Because Raina
by bhut
Summary: Raina is intelligent and found the right way to survive Jiaying, save for the neck wound. Now, armed with visions of the future, she plans to change it. Post S2 finale AU with canon elements included.
1. Chapter 1

**Because Raina**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine at all._

 _The Past (S2)_

 _Drunken Ophelia,_

 _Was floating on the river,_

 _Looking at the stars..._

Raina Underwood, a green-skinned InHuman with the spikes of a chupacabra and eyes of gold, was having a bad time of her life. Jiaying's blade had stabbed deep and though the water was carrying Raina's lightweight body very easily, her life's blood was dripping out of her body, one drop at a time.

The fact that it was not what was really bothering Raina was saying something. What were bothering her were her visions, perhaps colored by dying, perhaps not. Skye/Daisy walking across the aisle with Lincoln Campbell, a rather Jiaying-like-look on her face. Bobbi Morse, sitting in some sort of high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. office, looking as cold as Raina felt and looking almost as dead on the inside. There were photos on her desk, of a boy and a girl and a man whose name, she remembered was Lance Hunter – and these were old photos: Bobbi clearly did not have chance to make new ones in a long while.

Then there was a vision of Lance Hunter himself, who was clearly in a bad way – dishevelled and drunk and talking to a tombstone of all things, about how it was (very sad) that the closest thing to an honest friend that he had was a murderous bastard who was dead and how sorry he was that he didn't recognize it while they were both alive, and hoped that the bastard would still forgive him, and-

And then there was the tombstone itself, with a name and a date done on it. Raina could not clearly visualize whose name and date was on it – it was not hers, for she knew that she won't be buried in the ground – the animals in the river will strip her dead flesh from the bones and her bones will become part of the river – but she somehow knew whose tombstone it was, but what's more, it was the tombstone of her failed life, dreams and ambitions-

Two large, powerful and rough hands pulled her out of the river effortlessly, despite her waterlogged clothing. "Oh witch," a voice that she had not heard in a while rumbled. "You have wound-up the wrong person this time, didn't you?"

Raina wanted to agree, but she was dying, so she only smiled – a tiny, happy smile.

And then darkness claimed her.

/

When the darkness had released its claim on her, Raina suddenly discovered herself, well, alive. Her neck did not hurt, but she could feel something on it, either a bandage or a brace, and a very thick one at that.

"You're lucky," her rescuer half-growled half-muttered. "You're lucky, witch, that John had beaten into me, among other things, first aid knowledge as well as some more advanced things. You are also lucky that you sent me a letter where to find me, and that I came – because you sounded honestly desperate for once. Now what?"

"I'm sorry for winding you up back in CyberTek," Raina said quietly. "You may be a fool, but that foolishness brought you happiness and a greater lot in life than my so-called wisdom. I got what I wanted and it brought me nothing! Now, I shall not go back to Li Shi, for Mrs. Zabo and her husband are crazy, I cannot go to Hydra, and I will not go to S.H.I.E.L.D., for while I can admit that while Daisy's angel is stronger than my demon is, I'm not yet ready to submit to her – I can't. That leaves only you."

"And if I am to go, say, to Hydra?" Grant said quietly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. cares not for me, and it's reciprocated. I do not know about Kara Lynn-"

"You can't!" Raina gasped, before she caught herself. "I mean yes, you can do anything you want, for you have the power of choosing your own destiny, blazing your own trail, but I have seen the future that this of choice yours will cause, and it will bring misery to S.H.I.E.L.D. but death to you and your lady." She paused. "I am not Garrett, Grant Ward, I do not seek to control you, for you've grown beyond that, I just...want to be in your corner. You and your lady are the closest people I have to friends, for you will not abandon me in favor of Daisy or Skye-"

"Who's Daisy?" Grant interrupted Raina's rant – she may've been smarter than he was (she suspected that she could give the FitzSimmons an honest run for their money), but he had learned much since their last talk; one of his mentors had honestly told him that much wisdom brings much sorrow and vice versa, and since Grant was sure that he already had plenty of sorrow in his life, he believed that he had acquired some wisdom too in the process, or at least – a sort of a wary caution.

"Skye," Raina said simply. "She has many names, for her destiny, her future, is to become a glorious, powerful leader-"

"-and you don't want that," Grant said quietly. "Hanging around Cal and his wife had really messed you up, hah? Here you are, caring only about yourself, and here's Cal, at least, caring only about his wife and daughter. The two of you made a worse team together than John and I, and that's saying something!"

"Cal and I weren't a team," Raina said acidly, "and I wasn't finished."

"Oh?"

"I want to be myself, not a follower of Skye," Raina said simply. "But I'm not strong enough – not unlike you, or even your lady. I want to learn how to be strong enough from the two of you. But if the two of you are gone, I cannot do that, now can I?" She paused, quite aware that her interlocutor owed her nothing, and was quite capable of disposing of her if he would want to. "I- I don't know how to convince you, Grant Ward, but you saved me, even though you didn't have to, and I want repay kindness with kindness, goodness with goodness-"

"Stop," Grant said quietly. "Just stop. You're almost as smart as you think you are, and are almost as convincing as Coulson is, and that makes you quite dangerous." He paused and thought some more. "And yet, I'm not like Coulson and his people, I do not want to appear _righteous_. I remember what it was like before Kara Lynn helped me think things through, and I realize now that being alone sucks. Tell you what – if you can make peace with Kara Lynn, you can stay; if not, then I won't guarantee anything."

"I accept," Raina nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Hell-Blazer, Hell-Fire!"

"What did you call me?!"

"Nothing!"

/

"Thank God you're here," Kara Lynn gave Grant a great big hug and a shy – but warm – peck on the cheek. "I was afraid that you had abandoned me!"

"I won't," Grant shook his head. "And I'm sorry that I'm late – it's just that John's former witch, Raina, asked if she could stay with us and tagged along."

Kara Lynn blinked. So, for that matter, did Bobbi Morse, who was currently tied-up (crudely) in the corner of the dastardly duo's hideout in Spain.

"Say what now?" the Latina asked, since Bobbi was currently gagged (but also crudely). "You found yourself another woman? First Skye, now-"

"It's funny that you should mention Skye," Grant interrupted Kara. "Raina seems to be planning to set herself up as anti-Skye of some sort-"

"Excuse me?" Kara now stared in surprise rather than indignation. "An anti-Skye? That is someone whom I must meet." She paused. "But what about-" she pointed at the blonde.

"Ah yes, _her_ ," Grant said with a disgust that matched that of Coulson and the others when they talked of _him_. "Let's do this quickly." And with those words he reached out and took-off Bobbi's gag. "Are you going to apologize to Kara Lynn for selling her out to Hydra?" he spoke faux-brightly.

Bobbi spat in his face. "Guess that answers my question," Grant's voice did not change. "Kara Lynn, can be honest here?"

The latter just nodded, tensely. "I honestly want to help you get your closure with Bobbi, but – I can't. You see, Kara, Bobbi is monster like me, but while I am a monster of fire and anger, Bobbi is a monster of stone, of ice, stone and pride. She'll break before she yields, and I do not want to torture her." He got up and faced the Latina. "You see, Kara Lynn, there is an old Middle Eastern fable, about a great sinner, who once did a good deed by giving starving man some turnip, and through this turnip found salvation. Kara Lynn, I want you to be this turnip, I want to save you, not to damn along with me, and me torturing Morse will be damnation, not salvation, don't you understand?" He paused. "And I know that I have failed you, I thought that Bobbi was human, not monster like me-"

"Stop," the Latina said slowly. "Just stop. Grant Douglas, first of all, you are not a monster – you are a man, and I want you to be my man, for you were there to make me feel warm and human once more since Hydra discarded me and S.H.I.E.L.D. abandoned me; you were there, with me, in the dark, as we fought our Hydra demons together. You say that you are fire, Grant Ward? Perhaps, but fire is not monstrous, it is also damn useful and helpful and it maybe was what had made our human ancestors human. So, tell you what – _you_ keep _me_ human and _I_ will keep _you_ human. Deal?" And she nudged him softly in the chin with her forehead – not a real kiss, but judging by Grant Ward's expression, it could amount to one all the same.

"Deal," the latter said softly, before turning around and facing Morse once more. "Barbara. Agent Morse. We all know that you are better at escaping restraints than Kara is at making them, so you should be out of them within an hour. Try not to die on us – we do not want your blood on our hands...we do not want you on our hands or otherwise period. Have a good evening."

There was a pause as Bobbi realized that that was it – she was being left behind. Well, not technically, since she was not a part of this...whatever it was, but somehow that is what it felt like. She opened her mouth to say something, but Grant and Kara Lynn were already gone.

Bobbi Morse didn't feel like a monster, but at the moment? She did not really feel like an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. either.

/

 _The Present (S3)_

Lincoln Campbell felt that he had hit rock bottom. His social life as a perfectly normal doctor was over. His secret life at Li Shi was over. His life as it was was also almost over, and that, perhaps, depressed him most of all, since he did not want to die. However, he also had to look truth in the eye – he was not really street-savvy; he was trapped without resources (or allies) on Dallas' dusty city streets, and he was being pursued by law enforcement, military, ACTU, and the giant misshapen ogre, Lash – and none of them were his friend.

True, there was S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. would probably welcome him back, perhaps even with open arms, given the fact that they needed his services, or rather – skills, with the InHumans.

The problem with that plan was that Lincoln did not really like that idea, of helping S.H.I.E.L.D. treat and train InHumans into...what? A new way of life? Jiaying did that already – with his help too – and look what it all had come out: as terrorism and damnation. If Lincoln was already damned, he wanted to repent, not to go right back in, this time for Daisy and Mack, rather than Jiaying and Gordon...

But put otherwise, then, what was his choice? Death or capitulation? He could as well flip a coin and see where it would land...

"Lincoln..."

"Raina." There was a pause. "Raina?" the young InHuman turned around. "Is that you?"

"In the flesh," the gold-eyed mutant replied, in an almost mocking tone. "Expected someone else, did you?"

"I expected _anyone_ else, actually," Lincoln confessed. "Daisy told me that you died-"

"I almost did," Raina nodded. "But I have seen my future, and tried to hedge my bets. There was a man, who did not like my very much, but whose mentor had once found me useful. He isn't my friend – not really, and he isn't easy to get around, but he wouldn't have demanded my soul the way S.H.I.E.L.D. would, or Skye for that matter."

"Her name is Daisy," Lincoln said quietly.

"Do I care?" Raina shot back. "Anyways, I _did_ place my life in his hands, he could've let me die, for he owed me nothing, and things would've become very different for many people, yourself included, but he does have honor, and decency, and he saved me." She grimaced. "And now, it seems, we get to save you, since I got a vision of you being in trouble, just in time."

"Just in time?" Lincoln carefully inquired.

"Yes, for I was about to administer an antidote that would cure my condition, which means – no more visions from now on, when the vision with you hit me," Raina confessed.

"Wait, you found out an antidote to cure our curse?" Lincoln asked excitedly.

Raina blinked, her golden eyes widening (slightly) in surprise. "Cure? Curse? Lincoln, you have changed, I see. We don't have enough time," she continued thoughtfully, "and we've never really talked, but tell me – you didn't go through the Mist as Skye or did, did you? You were born this way, weren't you, with lightning?"

"Um," Lincoln rubbed his head. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Raina," another woman appeared in the deepening clouds of dust on the streets. "Is your friend coming or staying? We have dealt with the wannabes, but S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming: Ward does not really want to face his ex, I am not crazy about potentially facing off with the not-so-dynamic duo of Morse and Hunter either, and-"

"Ms. Palamas," Raina's voice turned much more professional and polite. "I'm on it." She turned to Lincoln. "Campbell, you have to make a choice: my friends and I, ACTU, or S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"I'm coming with you," Lincoln said quietly. "I want no part of S.H.I.E.L.D. master plan, and the others are _worse_."

"Great!" Raina said with _some_ brightness, and taking Lincoln by hand the two of them raced down the street towards the Ms. Palamas, where a very high-tech and unusual plane was waiting...

/

"So, uh, Raina, who are your new people?" Lincoln said a brief while later, after the plane was safely in the air. "Who do you work for?"

"Ourselves," Raina shrugged. "We're not an organisation, just a small group of people in the world that is changing – and in a very bad way."

"How so?" Lincoln waited for the bad news. He was not disappointed, but still surprised.

"Jiaying tried to destroy all the non-InHuman people in the world with the Mist. She failed and died in the process, apparently, but the Mist got into the water, contaminating it, the sea life, etc. The entire planet is going through some messed-up biological process, and-"

"You said something about a cure earlier," Lincoln said slowly. "Are you trying to-"

"No," Raina said, her casual attitude immediately gone, leaving behind a rather small and weak-looking woman (or chupacabra). "I have been able to reverse engineer _my_ transformation, and it was a long, lengthy, and custom-made process. It _cannot_ be mass-produced!"

"Oh," Lincoln nodded thoughtfully. "Well, can you teach me how it works? I am a doctor of medicine, maybe the two of us can think of something new and improved?"

"Really?" something like genuine surprise briefly appeared on Raina face before fading back into caution that Lincoln was actually familiar was – he had seen it in his reflections lately. "Why? You loved Li Shi-"

"I changed," Lincoln said wearily. "I've seen what people with powers do, what their powers do to them. Alisha Yagodnik, for example-"

"Is the one piloting the plane," another voice interrupted Lincoln's speech.

Slowly, Lincoln turned around – the speaker looked, or rather sounded, somewhat familiar. He also sounded quite big, and so the fact that he was able to sneak up on Lincoln meant-

Oh. He was not alone. There were others with him – a woman that he remembered Raina calling – respectfully – as Ms. Palamas, and another woman- "Alisha?" he whispered quietly. "I thought you were dead."

"Hey, as long as I have clones to spare," the 'ginger ninja' said cheerfully, before sobering down much more so. "But seriously? Between escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and that oversized asshole with his disintegrating beams? I almost died."

"But you didn't," Lincoln said quietly. "When I met that monster, even with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. I could not stop him. How did you?"

"With tactics Dr. Campbell, with tactics," the big man said quietly. "Our 'buddy' Lash is an extra big-" Ms. Palamas punched him in the side "- hammer. He has no strategy, no tactics; he just goes forth and destroys things. He has an especial fondness for the InHumans, but he is not even smart enough to be sadistic, which is actually good. In Hydra, he would never have been anything else but a hammer – a tool. I, on the other hand, was a specialist agent in _both_ Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., and I have a... _particular_ fondness of cutting big men down to size, so when I saw Lash destroying Alisha's clones, I stepped in."

"Are you one of us, sir?" Lincoln said quietly. "I remember you from the Arctic – you're agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., right? Agent Ward, you must be then?"

"No, doctor, just Ward," the bigger man shook his head. "Or Grant, I suppose. S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer has anything to do with me, and perhaps rightly so, and I won't have anything to do with Hydra."

"Oh?" Lincoln tried to make a statement, but it came over more like a question.

"Yes," Agent – just – Ward said quietly. "Not after I saw what they did to Kara Lynn and other people. Hydra seeks to put everyone in manacles and collars and just – dominate us." He paused. "Amazingly, this is still a more evolved plan than whatever 'buddy' Lash is doing, which is both sad and should tell you, doctor, that if you're ever confronted by him, don't try to straight-out outfight him – outthink him instead. Yes, he can kill you, but you can kill him too." He paused and grimaced. "Sorry about the last bit. Former specialist, you see. Tend to think of everything in a very specific way."

"But you stopped," Ms. Palamas – Kara Lynn – said simply.

"I did," Ward – Grant Ward – replied and half-hugged her; somehow this simple gesture looked very intimate to Lincoln at least. "Doctor, anyhow, what do _you_ want to do? You were talking to Raina earlier-"

"I want," Lincoln said slowly, thoughtfully, "to be a doctor – not a spin doctor, as Jiaying had me be, and Daisy wants me to be again. I want to heal people, not to help them reform into someone new and fancy who gets to fight for some abstract cause. Raina said that she has already figured something out, and maybe I can work with that?" he turned back to Raina. "The emphasis on 'can' – I don't want to steal your research-"

"You won't," Raina said in a voice that was somewhat strange, almost embarrassed. "Really. Plus, um, Grant Ward over there has mastered a technique that can knock out the powers of someone like you for a week. It got to do with chakras."

...As a matter of fact, Lincoln knew some things about chakras himself, but this was something new to him. "You can negate such powers as mine?" he turned back to the other man. "How?"

"There's a self-defence system that involves this sort of blow," Ward said carefully. "It is complex, and considering that I _specialize_ in this sort of thing, complex is an understatement in your case."

Lincoln opened his mouth to argue – and closed it, as he began to use his brain to think it over. Yes, he knew about chakras and similar things because of _Li Shi_. If he was trying to sever his past, then mucking about with _chakras_ certainly _was not_ the right way of doing it.

"I'm sorry, sir," he told the bigger man. "I guess I'm just overwhelmed."

"Then why don't you sleep on it, squirt," Alisha grinned in that honorary-big-sister way that she used to do back in Li Shi. "After all, it's quite a flight – to Australia."

Australia?! Lincoln leaned back into his seat. It seemed that his new allies were just as strange as S.H.I.E.L.D. were – but they were not seeking to buy his soul, and that what mattered.

/

"Back, are we?" Coulson spoke with a certain nonchalance that did not really fool anyone else. "What has gone wrong? Where's young Lincoln?"

"He is not with us," Mack replied gruffly, "but neither he's with ACTU, which isn't a good thing, actually."

"Go on," Coulson stopped even pretending. "What went wrong?"

"Hard to tell," Hunter shrugged. "We've got over a dozen of ACTU field agents, who had been taken out of commission with some crippling blows and I mean crippling. Whoever Lincoln's new friends are, they're playing for keeps."

"It's agent 33," Bobbi Morse said quietly; both she and Daisy are more subdued than either Hunter or Mack are. "I recognize the stab and slice wounds – they're the results of her kenjutsu technique, it is very much like mine is."

"Your technique isn't kenjutsu," Hunter tried to argue and was rewarded with a glare for his troubles.

"Agent 33 was last seen in the company of Grant Ward," Coulson interrupted, before the exes could start to fight again. "Do you think that the two of them had gone back to Hydra?"

"I have no idea," Mack took charge. "None of them stuck around once they saw us coming – it was a clean op, if an unnecessarily bloody one: they went in, got Lincoln out, split. Very precise and neat – unlike ACTU, who tends to get over the top with _their_ ops, yeah? So, none of us think that it's some sort of ACTU infighting, you know?"

"But you still think that it was agent 33 and Ward?" Coulson pressed, this time asking Daisy directly.

"I have no idea," the gifted agent replied, her face oddly emotionless: Daisy was clearly keeping her emotions under a tight rein. "Even with my current level of skills, it's hard to control dust on Dallas streets in a windy day, and Lincoln's rescuers were wearing masks, so I honestly can't say just who they were, exactly." She paused, before taking a deep breath and continuing, sounding half-desperate and half-miserable. "But I can tell you this. Lincoln knew that we were looking out for him. He knew who we were and what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for. And despite all this, he still went off with someone else. I guess he really doesn't care about us, or the InHumans, not anymore."

"And that _is_ weird," Lance spoke, clearly uncomfortable with Daisy's speech. "I mean, he helped out on the _Iliad_ while I and Morse were in the hospital, didn't he?"

"Yes," Coulson agreed, "but after that he didn't appear to be very interested in either working with us or going back to Li Shi: clearly the actions of Jiaying and her crew had affected him more than we've thought. I... decided to give him some time to recover and to regain his bearings-"

"Maybe it did work," Mack spoke up. "The new guys used moves that were more likes ours than Hydra's; they had technology that was more like ours than Hydra's; and their approach was more like ours than Hydra's. Maybe they're another splinter cell of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"It doesn't matter," Daisy was not impressed or distracted. "DC, Lincoln isn't our enemy – not at the moment, and hopefully not ever. But I do not think that he wants to be our friend anymore. I'm certainly not sure that he wants to be in S.H.I.E.L.D. to begin with."

"So what's your point?" Coulson said gently.

"Even if we need to rescue him, I won't ask him to work with the other InHumans," Daisy did not blink. "The newcomers? Whoever they were – they did not have any powers, though they did have a very huge dog – as big as a black bear, though with a long tail – which means that they are likely _not_ to be InHumans."

"What's your point, luv?" Lance pressed on, gamely.

"I'm not sure," Daisy admitted. "But Lincoln hadn't thrown his lot with us, and that is important. I am not going to force him to work with us; if he will change his mind, we will negotiate. If he will need help, we will help. But he will not want to help – I am not going to force him. I just...don't know what to do or to think about him anymore."

"Skye, don't reject him beforehand," Coulson gently began to tell the young woman who was all but his daughter, when the door opened and in stalked Leo Fitz, with his own mood being rather foul.

"I processed the data that you have given me, Bobbi," he told the blonde with a glare. "I don't know in which museum you found the bear-dog fossils, but this isn't very funny."

"We're sorry?" Leo had actually been able to shake Daisy out of her funk. "What do you mean?"

"The bear-dog was an animal that died out many, many millions of years, during the time called the Miocene epoch, if anyone cares," the bereaved scientist rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I should've recognized one of Hunter's dumb jokes-"

"Fitz, we're S.H.I.E.L.D.," Skye gently told perhaps her oldest friend (Coulson was more of a father figure) left in the agency. "Believe it or not, that wasn't any fossil, but a real live animal."

Fitz' eyes bulged. "How so?"

Daisy exchanged looks with the other field agents and told Fitz the general details of their unsuccessful attempt to retrieve Lincoln.

"So, Lincoln had thrown his lot with some time adventurers," Fitz finished slowly, "or something even weirder is going on."

"I'm voting for the second option," Coulson said brightly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has dealt with time travellers before, and they're always trouble. That Helen woman for example – ugh!"

"...Okay," Daisy finally spoke, when it became obvious that Coulson was not elaborating. "I guess this is it for now. For the while, Lincoln will not be coming with us, and since we have not experienced any unexpected time shifts, I am guessing that DC is right. Are we dismissed?" she turned back to the man in question.

"Yes," the latter nodded. "And Daisy?"

"Yes, DC?"

"Here's for hoping that Lincoln is safe and sound."

"I hope so too. I just don't think that he'll be a friend of ours anymore."

 _TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

**Because Raina (part 2)**

 _Disclaimer: see part 1_

 _The past (between S2 and S3)_

"So," Kara Lynn Palamas, formerly agent 33 of S.H.I.E.L.D., turned to her companions, Grant Ward (formerly also of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and of Hydra) and Raina (no current affiliation, though she was, perhaps, an InHuman), "this is one of the last places that I remember, before I was captured."

"This isn't a safe house," Ward made half a statement and half a question, as he half-opened and half-forced the doors. "Or at least none of the models that I know of. The design is not S.H.I.E.L.D., or Hydra, or the alien ship/hideout of the Puerto Rico. This is something new."

"I know," Kara Lynn nodded. "I- I can almost remember what it was. It- it was connected with my research, you know?"

Grant nodded with understanding, Raina – with less so. Unlike Coulson's team, Kara Lynn and her old coworkers had been more concerned with _studying_ various 0-8-4 than _acquiring_ them. Thus, they were less suited for combat, and consequently, a Hydra team had destroyed them all – except for Palamas herself, who escape, until Bobbi Morse sold her out. So much for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supposed values.

"All right," Grant nodded, as he looked in. "This is a start. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. will not help us with you, we will have to do it ourselves. Do the insides look familiar to you?"

"Yes!" Kara Lynn nodded enthusiastically. "I recognize these letters, these markings. They are Egyptian!" she blinked. "I don't know what they say," she dimmed noticeably, "but they _are_ ancient Egyptian, I just know it!"

"All right," Grant nodded sagely. "The Hydra cell in Egypt was torn down during the last civil war in this country – by the native forces. There is no S.H.I.E.L.D. presence in that country nowadays too. We can go there and find a specialist-"

"I _was_ the specialist back then," Kara Lynn said bitterly. "Now I can't remember anything."

"Not true," Ward said gently, as both women turned and faced him. "Remember how you relearned Spanish? You read the words. You listened to me talk to you in Spanish, and then you remembered. Hell, you even remembered your accent – what? What did I say wrong now?"

"Behind you," Raina said weakly, as Grant turned around and saw what his companions were looking at: some sort of a bear-dog hybrid with a touch of lion thrown in.

"Oh. You don't remember running into any of those?" Grant asked, even as the animal lunged, and tried to take him down, using its body weight like a bear or a big cat, rather than its jaw as a wolf would.

Grant did not have time to dodge, nor did he draw any weapon: rather, he grabbed the animal by its neck and did his best to choke it into submission. "Please don't hurt it," Raina said slowly, as her new companion, (well, one of them, actually), appeared to be actually gaining the upper hand. "I don't think that it really wants to hurt you – it is just lonely and confused."

"Well, if it is, then we can take it on – as our mascot," Grant grunted, as Raina cautiously petted the animal's nose. The bear-dog (let us call it that), opened its mouth, big enough to bite-off Raina's hand and swallow it completely – but it did not. Rather, it took a sniff, licked Raina's limb in question and lolled its tongue in a friendly grin.

"Definitely a keeper," Ward exchanged a look with Kara Lynn.

 _The Present (S3)_

Lincoln stared with a very big curiosity at his surroundings. "So, this is Australia," he said, stating the obvious, perhaps, but considering that he had never been to the so-called Lost Continent, the statement was justified, perhaps. "Never been to this place before."

Raina patiently nodded. The local parrots and other exotic birds, the trees and other strange-looking plants, the weather, the view of their new 'base' – it was both a little and a lot to take in.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has it very different," Lincoln finally got down to the point.

"True," Raina agreed, "but they're a proper organization and all. We – not so much. We got a lab – my lab, but not it can be our lab, several bungalows, a bigger place for meetings, several warehouses and I think this is it. Ward and Ms. Palamas may have an understanding without landlady, but even they don't want to push her too hard, less she pushes back harder."

Lincoln nodded, but more in thought than in confirmation. The 'landlady' in question was someone else; the young man had heard of her kind of Jiaying, but Jiaying herself had been a liar, so Lincoln decided to give anyone she had slandered a chance. Thus, when he had shaken the hand of the scarred woman with dye in her hair, he was rewarded with a look that was almost grateful and shy? Interesting, but Lincoln had no intention of letting his guard down, ever again. "We're sharing the lab?" he asked instead, and was rewarded by an affirmative nod. "Are we, um, sharing, a bungalow too?"

"Yes, but don't worry – I'm not going to sleep with you, and you aren't the type to sleep with me either," Raina shrugged. "You need a proper wife and woman, not a former street hustler turned Saguaro cactus, for example."

"I don't know," Lincoln twitched. Maybe Raina was just going reverse psychology on him, but firstly, it _was_ rather flattering, and second... "You have changed since I last saw you. You no longer have spines on your head – they look more like palm fronds, yeah?"

Raina blinked. "I need a mirror," she declared in a voice that was not unlike what it was before her change, and walked off looking for one.

Feeling rather bemused, Lincoln followed her. It was nice to be around a woman that _was not_ any agent, after all.

/

"They look adorable together," Kara Lynn commented from her post by the window, as she and Ward observed the interactions of their friend – and _her_ new friend. "Grant, don't they look adorable together?"

"Kara, the last person that you thought was adorable was Leo Fitz," Grant said crossly.

"Still do! If he ever becomes our enemy, I just may capture him and lead him on a leash," Kara said wistfully. "I mean yeah, Bobbi was just evil, but she had some interesting ideas about spicing up your life..." she paused and added: "Have I mentioned to you the fact that you _aren't_ like Bobbi? I hate to think what I would've become if I remained after her influence?"

"Kara," Grant said patiently, "just forget about Morse; she made her bed and will lie in it, while you have made your own, and it's a new one-"

"Yes, well, what about _your_ ex?" Kara replied archly, as she pointed out to the TV. There, caught on some grainy footage (even S.H.I.E.L.D. agents get careless from time to time), was still recognizable Daisy, Mack, and a few other people. "You know, this could've been you-"

"Excuse me, just a minute now," Grant hit the pause button on the remote, freezing the picture. "I recognize the character here – it's a Tattaglia."

"Is that something like an UnBodied, or an InHuman?" Kara Lynn was genuinely curious, here.

"I mean, that this is a member of an organized crime family – a _werewolf_ crime family, to be exact," Ward said thoughtfully. "I don't know if werewolves are affected the same way that humans with alien blood tend to be, but since they don't really eat fish, preferring to go for red meat every time, odds are that S.H.I.E.L.D. is being set-up – _again_."

"Okay and you know all of this how?" Kara Lynn stared incredulously at her – lover? Friend? "Is this part of the Index that I forgot?"

"Not exactly..."

 _The Past (pre-S1)_

Grant Ward was enjoying his time off, though he would never tell this to John. Yes, he owed the man everything, and if it meant to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D. – then so be it. That said, it was not too bad in being away from John, either, and Ward _did_ love the wild outdoors. Maybe it was the side effect of being stuck in them for months and years, but Ward did not care. He had some time to himself, not even John could interfere in the perimeters of this mission (or maybe he just did not care), and he was free!

...Wait, where did that last part come from?

Grant did not have time to dwell on it, as he suddenly noticed some movement in the forest off the road, and this _were_ the Rockies after all, so he stopped and waited. Why did he stop and wait rather than pick up speed and go? Because he was curious, because he was arrogant, because he was naive – take your pick. Whatever the reason was, he stopped and waited – and was rewarded, when a rather large wolf emerged from the trees. There was something about the animal – the look in its eyes, the posture of its legs – that was somehow almost human.

Yet there was nothing remotely human about the animal's muzzle and teeth, which were currently depicted quite openly in Ward's face.

The latter blinked. "Do we have a problem?" he asked the animal, focusing perhaps on the eyes rather than the teeth. "Because I don't remember you in my past years, and I would never forget a face like yours."

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say, as the wolf charged, aiming low. Ward's reflexes were already good, even back then, as the animal's jaws snapped shut on one of his feet. Rather than yell in pain, however, Grant launched a very formidable punch upon the animal's kidneys, and it connected solidly, causing the wolf to retreat from him, but Grant was not finished. "You want a piece of me?" he yelled loudly, getting back onto his feet. He was armed, of course, but was loathe to waste ammo for some reason. "'Cause here I am, come and get me!"

And the wolf came, this time aiming high – just the right height for Grant to grab him by the neck and begin to choke. Unlike bears or big cats, a wolf's claws are short, and its legs are better designed to run rather than to fight, so the animal was at a disadvantage – again.

"I say," a feminine voice sounded from behind Ward – the woman had snuck upon him while he was distracted, "can you please let him go?"

Aware that the speaker might be armed, Ward let his furry opponent go and turned to face the woman – who _was_ armed, and so was her retinue. "I say myself," he said coolly, "but is this your relative, madam?"

"Yes," the woman sounded much more disgusted than surprised. "Unfortunately, he _is_ my relative."

Surprised and confused, Grant glanced in that direction and stiffened, as he saw his recent opponent shape shifting from a wolf into a more human-like body shape. "You're werewolves," he said flatly (mostly because he was too shocked).

"Yes," the woman nodded. "I'm signora Tattaglia. I believe you may've heard of us from our mutual friend John?"

/

 _The Present (S3)_

"And then what happened?" Kara Lynn asked, her face – very attentive, and her eyes – big and shining with genuine curiosity.

"Nothing," Ward replied with regret – he honestly loved it when the former agent 33 was looking at him this way: it brought out the best in her, as far as he was concerned. "I'm no werewolf; you know what I am."

"You mean – who you are," Kara Lynn replied calmly.

"That too," Grant agreed. "In any case, I was always cautious of John's friends; I trusted the man himself without questions, but his friends, or so-called friends? They were something else. Sometimes I wondered if John really _did_ have any friends – this really should've been a big clue for me..."

"Everything is obvious in hindsight," Kara Lynn shrugged. "Let us go of our past and think about our present."

"All right," Grant took a deep breath. "What do you want to talk about in regards to us?"

"Actually, I wanted to hear more about the werewolves," Kara admitted sheepishly – Ward's stories from the pre-Bus era were always fun to listen, at least to her. "Did you recognize the man on the TV since then?"

"No, the last time I met him was about a year or so ago, when I was with Garrett, and the president of Cuba had kicked us out."

"...Say what?"

"You should've seen it. There was John, doing his best to convince el Presidente that our goals were similar at this point, and then in came Quinn, over the moon with the fact that he finally reunited with his Gravitonium, and promptly kisses John on _both_ cheeks. In front of the aforementioned president, who is an old school Communist, who possibly plans to outlive the democratic regime of the USA and all. The man is not amused, and Quinn, oblivious to everyone and everything else around him, broadly hints to Garrett that John can do anything he wants with him in return and leaves, shaking his butt very provocatively. No words were said, but we packed our bags and left Cuba in two hours, leaving behind something of an impromptu trap for Coulson and his team."

"And the werewolves?" Kara Lynn asked when she stopped giggling.

"Oh, I recognized the man from the Rockies as one of the bodyguards – though only because he hit on Raina while we were all being distracted by Quinn," Grant paused, sobering up. "It's not what you think – I didn't trust Raina at the time, I was worried that she might be making a deal behind our backs..."

"You're very adorable when you blush," Kara Lynn said, sobering herself, while looking away. (She was currently with her mask off, so she was feeling a bit self-conscientious, even though they were alone.)

"That's not the word I like to associate with myself," Grant grimaced. "It's more of Fitz's thing." He paused. "If there was a thing that had damned me, it was him. Him and Simmons. When he came and did to John what he had done, he became a hero. I, on the other hand? Lost any chance of doing that-"

"Stop," Kara Lynn said firmly, and Grant obediently stopped. "What I told you about self-flagellation? If I'm to stop it, so shall you." She paused. "Now, since it was you who did it this time, I get to decide what to do – and I know exactly what. You're going to send an e-mail to S.H.I.E.L.D. with the info about your old friend, so to speak."

"Okay," Grant nodded, albeit with minimum hesitation. "But why?"

"Because you want to," Kara Lynn shrugged. "Otherwise you wouldn't have started talking about Leo Fitz of all people."

"... Ok."

/

Leo Fitz was a really happy man. He had Jemma back, so a large part of his life was back to being to normal. True, Jemma herself was not back to normal, but after getting her back to Earth through the – now destroyed – portal, this was going to be the easy part. After all, they did have Dr. Garner on their side, and though the man appeared to have some reservations towards Coulson, he did promise to help, either personally, or via his coworkers who might have better knowledge and experience with traumatized women. Despite S.H.I.E.L.D.'s general level of secrecy, nobody objected other than for the sake of objection: Jemma clearly _did_ need professional help, and a lot of it, and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself could use more members in it, InHuman or otherwise. Thus, it was with a light heart that Leo Fitz checked his inbox and blinked at the new message. He read it thoughtfully, and then forwarded it to Coulson with a request for further instructions.

/

Coulson found the new arrival – currently associated with some interesting data – in discussion with Andrew Garner, even as the man was assessing him. Coulson had to give the new arrival his due – either the information was false, or he was that good an actor. For personal reasons, Coulson was leaning towards the former, but for the benefit of the doubt, he led Jose/Joey into the new arrival's room, just to see the reactions of _both_ of them.

Well, he certainly got it – from Joey. The man in question swore something in Spanish and promptly hid behind Mack, who was accompanying Andrew – just in case.

"I saw you, you know?" the other InHuman (or not an InHuman?) said, grinning rather wolfishly indeed. "You can't hide from the justice."

"Yeah I can, bitch!" Joey yelled bravely from behind Mack. Apparently this is not the best thing to say to a werewolf of any gender, as his interlocutor promptly shifted into his animal form and charged, ignoring Mack – in a matter of speaking. For several minutes the three of them composed some sort of an embodiment of chaos, as Joey ran away from the werewolf, and the two of them formed circles around Mack, and the man in question just did his best to keep his balance.

"Enough!" Daisy, who until then had been keeping quiet, and let Andrew do all the talking and Mack – all the intimidating (not that it was needed – the new arrival had been cooperating, after all), released a small fraction of her powers – just enough to rattle the room. "Someone better start explaining now!"

Surprisingly, the werewolf complied, shifting back into his human shape and explaining in that same passable (yet accented) English, that he was a member of Cuban Secret Service (well, it's analogue), and had been sent to retrieve the American spy who had infiltrated the Cuban government and ran away with documents under the guise of a political refugee.

For his part, Joey/Jose did not deny it, but instead added his own details, which consisted that his current biography was part of his cover/protection detail/arrangement with the CIA, which had gone haywire after the whole fish pill incident, and so he currently had no idea how to proceed.

"I do," Daisy said, sounding more upset than angry by now. "Firstly – you," she turned to Joey/Jose/whoever he really was. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s offer still stands – we can train you to use your powers, to become a better person...eventually, according to Dr. Garner, at any rate. Or- or I guess we can hand you over back to CIA if you want to, because according to Lance and Bobbi all of those agencies already hate us, not because of the Hydra confusion back at the UN, but purely on our own merit," she added to Coulson. "I don't want to make things worse. It's your choice," she turned back to Joey.

"I'll stay," Joey decided, after some thinking. "It's the better option...I hope."

"That's the spirit," Daisy said, albeit somewhat weakly herself. "And, uh, you, sir?" she turned to the werewolf. "I know that you're different, but it's courtesy to extend to you the same offer, since you went to all the trouble of infiltrating us and all."

"Not really," the shapeshifter had clearly a nerve struck. "It's lately become something of an initiation ritual in certain circles – to infiltrate you people and see what we can find here." He paused. "And yes, my common sense did point out that what I said is mean, but I think that the doctor over there can help me with this, yeah?"

"Very much so," Andrew nodded in agreement. "What? I did explain both to you and agent Mackenzie that the man in question-"

"Stop," Mack sighed. "You explained, yes, but in psychological terms. This would make as much sense as if I explained anything to May in engineering terms-"

"Why would _you_ want to explain anything to _Melinda_ in _engineering_ terms?"

"Um," Mack began to explain, "uh-"

"Okay!" Daisy said brightly. "And on this note we're going to separate back the other two," she pointed to the two Latin-American gifted who had started _this_ particular mess, "while I and DC go and have a talk of our own, see?"

And this was just what they did.

/

"So, Sk-Daisy, what do you want to talk to me about?" Coulson said in an about hour, as they were doing some other, not-so-urgent but still pressing duties on S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I don't know exactly – just how you're holding up, maybe?" the latter confessed. "Morse – before we had rescued Joey – had once recommended to me a novel, _The Man Who Was Thursday_. It is a really strange mystery novel-"

"-That consists of a secret society that is just full of various members of the various law enforcement organizations that had infiltrated it," Coulson finished. "I've read it once. Honestly? I can live with British humour if it's Monty Python. But British literature? You've got to love it in the first place, because otherwise it won't work."

"I see that you've read it already too, because otherwise? Spoilers alert," Daisy snickered briefly, reminding Coulson of her old, Skye self, before turning back to her current state of behavior. "Seriously though, I'm guessing that it's been eating at you too?"

"Yes, and Daisy? Good work with how you have handled this situation," Coulson nodded at his student. "You've made the right call in giving them a chance."

"Thank you," Daisy slightly preened – she had become a confident powerful agent, but compliments from the boss were still appreciated. "I still got a long way to go, if I'm to crack people the way you did with those guys."

"Yes, well," Coulson flushed, "we had help." And he explained the situation to his protégé.

"...You think this is Ward, trying to be nice? Honestly, after the way he and agent 33 kidnapped Bobbi-"

"Either that, or that was one of the agencies, trying to provoke us into something like what has went earlier," Coulson looked more uncomfortable with _this_ suggestion than Daisy's. "Sk-Daisy, we _need_ allies in the US government, yes, but not the ones who jerk us around, like puppets. I, for one, had it back with Garrett, when he pretended to be the Clairvoyant."

"So you want cooperation, but on a more equal ground?"

"On a more honest ground would be a start," Coulson admitted. "Are you going to talk to Fitz about it?"

"I would, but he's with Jemma, and for now? Whenever Jemma sees me, she hides behind Fitz, grasps him very tightly, and just cries," Daisy admitted, sounding very sad herself. "I'm not going to go through that unless it's needed. DC, Leo and Jemma really need our help."

"I know," Coulson said sadly. "You want a hug?"

Wordlessly, Daisy walked over and gave him one. As they stood there, in the office, hugging, both of them realized acutely just how much they missed Melinda May...

/

"All right, so before we get down to the meeting abroad," Grant told his people as he and Kara Lynn finally joined them. "Any preliminary questions?"

"Yeah," Alisha nodded, as she sat there, flanked by her twin boyfriends, "did you and Palamas get to the second base already?"

"Yes, and if we ever have a child, you'll get to be our exclusive babysitter," Kara Lynn glared at the ex-commando woman.

"Gee, thanks," Alisha actually almost blanched – she had her own issues with children.

"For now, however, you get to compliment Raina on her hair," Kara Lynn 'relented'.

"Raina, it looks nice – what have you done to it?" Alisha asked with genuine curiosity, because instead of spikes, Raina did sprout some new fronds – some broad and leathery, some narrower and curlier, upon her head.

"Nothing," Raina carefully avoided the answer. "But, uh, thanks for getting into contact with your cousin and her boyfriend – they really helped with the entire ancient Egyptian to modern English translation."

"Eh, it's been nice to get in touch with Tova; we kind of drifted apart when I went to Li Shi," Alisha shrugged. "Anyhow, what does the translation say?"

"It's not a text, it's a map, hence why we've been having so many issues with it," Kara Lynn admitted. "A map with direction to Greece, of all places – ancient Egyptians didn't get along with Greeks; they didn't get along with everybody, actually. Very insular and self-sufficient, they were."

"...Okay," one of the twins opened his mouth, caught the look in Grant's eye and closed it.

"So are we going to Greece to see what's there instead?" his brother asked.

"Yes," Kara Lynn said quietly. "After all, maybe our mascot will find himself a girlfriend there?"

There was a pause as the others just stared at the bear-dog, who stared back at them – and they were sold (in a matter of speaking), and so they all went packing.

 _TBC_

AN – werewolves _are_ a part of Marvel™ canon, though they are usually associated with X-Men. But, since no live action TV series for X-Men for now, the werewolves will have to bother the agents instead. The agents can handle it, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Because Raina (part 3)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

And so it came to pass that Grant Douglass Ward, formerly of both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., found himself flying alongside Kara Lynn and his other new friends (he still couldn't believe that he had any, not after what he had done), from their so-called base in northern Australia to Greece.

"This is actually quite exciting," the aforementioned Kara Lynn said brightly, as she sat next to him on their plane – it was not exactly the Bus of the old S.H.I.E.L.D., but it still delivered. "In fact," she paused, as she had an epiphany, and fell silent.

Grant himself kept quiet too. Apparently, this sort of thing was what Kara Lynn had done back before S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, so doing it now tended to bring back memories for her, at least on the subconscious level. This was not unlike what Grant had expected to happen back in his original plan, but after their last encounter with agent Morse, he now suspected that it would have been unlikely to happen. Ah well, the best-laid plans and all that rot. S.H.I.E.L.D. had its own thing, whatever it was, and whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. was – the last he heard, Coulson seemed to have some sort of an in-S.H.I.E.L.D. mutiny on his hands – and Ward had Palamas. He had Raina and maybe Lincoln. He had few other people in his corner, most of whom did not like S.H.I.E.L.D. very much either. In short, it was one of the better case scenarios for him and Palamas – so why did he feel so restless?

Perhaps it was because it reminded him of his last mission for Garrett; back when he had infiltrated Coulson's original team. Nowadays, he didn't like to admit it, (nor was he going to, not willingly), but those had been some of the happier times of his life; if he could go back-

Then he would have never met Kara Lynn. Or Lincoln (who was not bad in his own way). Or other people whom he did meet in the process of escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. again. Following Garrett was a mistake – if he had been loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., but he was not. He had not been loyal to Hydra either, but that did not matter, not in the long run. He had made his choice and could not go back, not unless he wanted to be stuck in a cell once more, or have his memories erased. Now a handler would have been a better option, but so far? Ward had to admit that this current situation of theirs was also quite worthwhile to be had.

"What are you thinking about?" Kara Lynn asked quietly, as she moved over to him.

"You, mostly," Grant confessed, then seeing his new girlfriend's face turn red from surprise and other emotions, tried to clarify it. "Well, more like 50% about you, 30% about whatever we'll find in Greece, and the last 20% are just looking through the plane's window – it's a good view, very relaxing."

"Why, so it is," former agent 33 agreed, as she looked through the window herself. Outside was a pleasant mid-autumn afternoon. The skies were full of clouds, but with plenty of gaps to let the sunlight down to earth, and through those gaps the passengers of the plane could see some birds migrating down south – maybe waterfowl of some sort, or maybe not.

"You know, boss," one of the twins who was sitting next to Alisha spoke up. (The other was currently piloting the plane, BTW). "If we're going to land in Greece-"

"We _are_ -"

"Then maybe we could hit the food markets there too? I and my brother over there have this really interesting duck and mushroom recipe that we really want to try-"

"Tempting," Grant admitted, "But we are on schedule here, and the original location #2 comes first. Let us see how much time it takes for us, and then go on any extracurricular activities."

"How hard can it be," the twin insisted, when their new...actually, currently established, mascot yawned, revealing its sharp teeth and powerful jaws. "Oh, are we talking about this sort of thing?"

"Yes," Grant nodded, but was interrupted by Lincoln, (who until now had been busy watching some news on their laptop with Raina):

"Ms. Palamas, Mr. Ward? Maybe we should see this."

Grant had fully intended to correct Lincoln's well meaning but misguided courtesy once more, when he, Kara Lynn and the others did look at the news.

It was actually about the Avengers, too.

/

"So, how are things?" Bobbi Morse asked Daisy as the two women made their way through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s latest secret base/HQ. "Any more nasty or strange surprised as they were with Joey Gutierrez?"

"No, so far so good," Daisy admitted, "if you care overmuch for a lull in the action ATCU is still going strong-"

"-but at least it isn't Hydra," Bobbi admitted. "The latter appears to be largely down, at least for the last few months. Any news on Campbell?"

"No, and I want to talk about him as much as you want to talk about your kidnapping attempt," Daisy shot back.

"Ok, I was the one being kidnapped – the way you speak it sounds as if I was the one actually doing it," Bobbi shot back.

"Sorry-"

Bobbi shook her head. She could not admit it – not to Daisy, or Coulson, or even Lance, but she did regret her actions back on that day (or night, technically speaking) – it did actually cost her a chance to talk to Kara Lynn. Grant Ward, as far as Bobbi was concerned, could just go away to whatever Hell he had come from; agent 33, on the other hand, was a different story. Intelligent and resourceful, (although also quite vicious, on occasion at least), the woman could have become a very helpful asset (or even agent once more), if handled properly. But between 33's own hostility to Morse and May's hostility towards 33, this did not happen – but now May was gone.

Now, Bobbi did not know what had actually happened in Honolulu – why May and Andrew had broken up again, but this was not the point at the moment: May was valuable to S.H.I.E.L.D., but no one at the agency was irreplaceable...at least when it hadn't been strapped for members; Coulson was talking about offering an olive branch to ATCU; Bobbi (and Hunter) honestly thought that this could lead to some interesting times – Coulson's old leadership style was rather stiff and possessive, if he could learn to cooperate with others – well, with people outside of the agency, the situation would become different... and now, perhaps, it would be.

That said, Bobbi reluctantly admitted, her handling of the Palamas situation still was not the best. Palamas may have been agent 33, but Bobbi had been agent 19, meaning that she was the better one out of the two women. If given enough time, she could handle Palamas and get her back to the side of the angels (as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. was concerned, admittedly, but still), but she never had the chance: one flash of defiance and that is it, good-bye Bobbi.

True, Morse had no intention of being tortured, but honestly? She was not particularly pleased in being used as a prop in a play either. Ward clearly had no intention of having her apologize, he just made her into a prop for his bid for Kara Lynn's loyalties – and it worked, and it rankled in Morse's opinion – she wanted a rematch.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the rematch in question will have to wait – Ward not only moved out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s searchlights, he did take Palamas with him. If it was just the two of them, it would be easy to keep out of sight, especially if they had the mask fit...and the last time that Coulson found them they had been playing house, until Coulson used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own private cyborg to cooperate...so odds of them doing this sort of thing once more were quite high.

Perhaps it _was_ for the best: Ward was Hydra, through and through, so if he decided to retire, (as so many other ex-Nazis supposedly had done), good riddance to him, he will get his karma eventually. Did he have to drag Palamas into this mess, though?

"Hey, what are you two listening to?" Leo Fitz spoke suddenly, startling Morse out of her thoughts. Wordlessly, she looked at Sk-Daisy, who just pointed to one of the agency's radios, which was currently transmitting the news about the upcoming and potential superhero registration act...

/

"You know," agent V (Grant helped him pick his nickname, and it showed) spoke. "I guess I kind of expected something bigger or flashier on this sort of 'steal-from-S.H.I.E.L.D.' mission. This is more of a family picnic kind of thing."

"And what's wrong with that?" Alisha, or perhaps – one of her clones, for it could be tricky to tell, spoke up. "Amanda-"

Amanda (the other woman who was not Raina _or_ Kara Lynn) just shrugged. "Something's wrong," she finally spoke. "Things are dying."

"Well _of course_ they're dying, it's _autumn_ ," Alisha rolled her eyes at the slender and stoic blonde gunslinger. "Things tend to die around this time of the year, unless it's tropics, where it _is_ no autumn, or the poles, I suppose..."

"Not like that, Alish," one of the ex-commando's twin boyfriends spoke up suddenly. "Amanda didn't talk about _nature_ , more about, we don't know, social things? The towns, the markets, the people? You know?"

"The InHuman Mist," Lincoln spoke up suddenly (until then he had been a bit off to the side, waiting for Raina to return with Grant and Kara, "it contaminated the sea life on the DNA level. So far it is just the fish pills, but who knows what else? People are getting scared; the US is using ATCU and the registration act, to distract its people; here in the EU the natives aren't so lucky-"

"Isn't Greece _not_ a part of the EU anymore?" agent V interrupted. "I mean yeah, I don't know the news, but-"

"It's not the point," Amanda looked at her friend and usual partner (team-wise, social-wise Amanda Powers stated that she was asexual...supposedly). "The point is that the world is changing, and not in a good way." She looked at Lincoln in an emotionless way. "Maybe we can relocate to your old place? I admit that as a native of NYC this does not sound very appealing-"

"No," Lincoln said firmly. "Between Jiaying's lies and S.H.I.E.L.D., Li Shi isn't really a home anymore. If we actually want to _help_ the InHumans, we should actually think about relocating them somewhere else. Me and agent Ward and, um, our landlady, we were sort of discussing this between ourselves-"

"You were?" Amanda began to press the young man, when the team's mascot suddenly growled and sat up on its haunches. Considering that in this poise it was even taller than Ward, the bear-dog towered over Lincoln in particular.

"Sit boy, sit," Lincoln said firmly, aware that he did not have Raina's skill with the natural world, but not backing down all the same. "Good boy, Raina will be back soon..."

"We're back already," Raina spoke from behind Lincoln and the others (they were busy staring at Lincoln doing his lion-tamer act), "and we got ourselves another friend. Boys, you and Alisha begin the extraction of the material-"

"Eeee! Is that a dinosaur?"

"Agent V," Grant winced. "Not so loud! There might be people around!"

"But it's a raptor! A real raptor!" agent V, who was actually the closest to Grant in terms of sheer physical proportions did not back down. The bear-dog, which was actually bigger than either of them, actually moved forwards, this time on all four (because it was an animal, after all), and it did not look very friendly at all.

"Down boy, down!" Lincoln firmly stood in the animal's way, clearly intending to stay there. "This is a friend, boy, friend!"

"Lincoln...agent V, you're making this worse," Raina spoke up, glaring at the balding yet bearded man, even as the latter was about to shapeshift (he was no werewolf, but his other form was almost as large as the bear-dog itself was). "Stay human."

"Sorry, Ms. Raina," agent V froze, "but wouldn't it be better if someone was to keep the two apart? And is that a real dinosaur, or one of InGen's hybrid lizards?"

"Neither," Kara Lynn admitted, even as she exchanged looks with Ward and Raina, "it is most likely another one of the creations made by whoever had made our mascot-"

"If we already have a mascot," Lincoln decided to interrupt 'Ms. Palamas'. "Shouldn't we give the new one to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" He paused. "Ok, dumb idea, don't even know where it came from-"

"No," Grant spoke up for the first time (but then again, he _was_ busy holding down the dinosaur), "this isn't a bad idea at all – after all, we're _not_ Hydra, and who knows? Maybe one day Coulson can be actually useful."

"Interesting idea," Kara Lynn said tartly, but with a rather pleased look on her face. "Let's start loading our plane and think about it."

The bear-dog growled. Kara Lynn gave the animal a hard look. It was not exactly similar to Raina's gold stare, but it still worked, as the bear-dog sat back down.

"Quickly too," Grant grunted, as the dinosaur became agitated once more.

/

Melinda May found her retirement to be, well, not exactly boring, but something close enough. She _did_ love spending time with her parents, but considering that she herself was not exactly a young girl anymore, this was not quite what she sought, not especially when her reconciliation with Andrew went flat too. She was thinking about going back to S.H.I.E.L.D., but somehow it did not feel quite right either; what she wanted...May did not even really know herself.

There was a knock on her door. No one in the house was expecting any company. May grabbed one of the kitchen knives and stealthily opened the door.

"Hi!" Kara Lynn said from some distance away, waving an impromptu white flag of truth and doing her best to appear non-threatening. "We got a dinosaur that we want to hand over to S.H.I.E.L.D. Can you help?"

"Melinda, who is it?" May's father appeared from behind the Cavalry and stared. "A-yeah! Is it a dinosaur? For me? Melinda, you shouldn't have!"

"Father," Melinda felt like breaking something – maybe a knife handle. "This isn't what it looks like-"

"Please, child, there's no need to be shy. It is a dinosaur! It is the best thing after your mother – no, wait. It's just a best thing, period!"

"Father," Melinda tried again, "I know that you and mother have your differences and difficulties lately, but-"

"But it is a bit high-maintenance, sir," Kara Lynn joined in. "Especially for a private citizen-"

"Bah! It is no more high-maintenance than my ex-wife is! Plus it doesn't expect to sleep with me whenever it feels frisky – and when it's my turn, it gets a headache!" the elderly gentleman yelled. "Does it?" he gave the newcomers a gimlet stare, worthy of the Cavalry herself (she had to get it from somewhere, now did she?).

"Okay," Kara Lynn gave May a rather helpless look. "Um, guys?"

"We're on it," Raina told the elder women as she and Lincoln took the dinosaur inside. May, for her part, belatedly realized that Raina looked as she did before Puerto Rico, which meant that she was probably wearing the mask since Kara Lynn herself wasn't – May was seeing her own, scarred face clearly...she just didn't care. After decades of working for S.H.I.E.L.D. a scarred face was not very scary, actually.

"Isn't Lincoln supposed to be with us?" she politely asked the ex-agent, after Lincoln and Raina took the raptor inside the house. "Or have you and Raina switched teams?"

"No," Kara Lynn shook her head as the two women made their way towards a bench in the yard. "We haven't."

The two of them sat, Melinda thought of what else she could say, or ask, when Kara Lynn beat her to it.

"I apologize," the Latina said promptly. "I know that I've been brainwashed and all, but I was trying to kill you and whatever else – that part is actually one of the blurriest in my memory – so you were right to fight back. You did not even finish me off even though you could. Thank you for that. Neither I nor Grant nor any of our people will be coming for you."

May blinked and carefully looked at the knife that she was still holding in her hand. "This," she began and thought about everything. Was she worried about Grant and agent 33? Perhaps, but not enough to be petty; for some reason thinking about pettiness had reminded her of Bobbi Morse – the blonde had done her best to be friendly with her, but Melinda just couldn't bring herself to like Bobbi back. And now-

"I apologize too," Melinda finally made her decision. "I should've entertained the notion that you were brainwashed or coerced in some other way. Even Garrett ran the incentives program; even Ward had been – I think – trained to follow Garrett directly. I should've given you a chance, tried to retrieve you before Puerto Rico..." she shook her head. "S.H.I.E.L.D. was, or even is, giving people another chance, and we didn't give you yours. I apologize for that."

"I accept your apology," Kara Lynn nodded her head in confirmation.

"I accept yours," Melinda instinctively copied the movement.

"...now what?"

"Excuse me?"

"None of us expected to stick around," Kara Lynn explained. "Your father...we just thought that we'll give you the dinosaur, you'll hand it over to Coulson, and S.H.I.E.L.D. gets its mascot, the end."

"A mascot?" Melinda blinked.

"Ever seen an eagle live?" Kara Lynn said simply. "Even a fishing eagle? Believe me, if you have ever seen one, the similarities between it and a raptor would be quite noticeable."

"And where did you see one?" Melinda could not help but ask – she had a feeling that the other woman was not talking about a bald eagle, for example. (And yes, the bald eagle was something of an S.H.I.E.L.D. mascot; either it or the golden eagle, May honestly was unsure which one was it.)

"In Egypt," Kara Lynn responded. "We went there _after_ Puerto Rico, _after_ Bobbi. Going there reminded me why I was in S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place-"

"But you aren't coming back," May stated rather than asked.

Kara Lynn did not answer immediately, but when she did it was – "No. I am not leaving my family behind. I am not leaving my friends behind. I know that things can change in the future – boy, did they change for me in the past – but for the moment, we are a package deal. Tell Coulson that, would you?"

Family...friends...the words resounded in May's heart most painfully. Make no mistake, she had no intention of abandoning her mother and father (whatever issues they might with each other at the moment), but...but they are not her _only_ family, it seems, no matter what. Whatever feelings she might harbor or have for individual agents does not change that.

"I'm going back to S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said suddenly.

"Of course you are," Kara Lynn nodded knowingly. "You were just taking a leave of absence because of the domestic situation-"

"Don't go there," May grunted. "What of your parents?"

"My father left me and my mother before I was 12, because I was a girl and not a boy that he wanted to have, and my mother has more concern about the garbage heap behind our pile than about me," Palamas spoke in such a matter-of-fact voice that May believed her straightaway. "For a while I thought that S.H.I.E.L.D. can be my family. I was wrong."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has changed," May said quietly.

"So have I. Maybe one day we will work together, but not today, and not just because 'today' is more of a 'tonight' by now," Kara Lynn nodded. "Guys, are we ready to leave?"

The young couple looked at Ward who was flanking them by now and looked rather sheepish at the moment. "Kara Lynn, about that? The Cavalry will need a helping hand regarding her father, the dinosaur and chicken soup."

There was a long and profound silence. "Grant Douglass? What you and your people have done?"

/

"May," Lance Hunter tried to be all-professional and prompt – something that he never had a handle on even in best of circumstances, leaving it to Bobbi, but this time, to add to May's already frayed nerves, he did his best to sound so. "Not that we're happy for you to be here-"

"I'm coming back," May told the Englishman promptly. "I would rather be working afield, away from the base."

"Heard about Rosalyn Price, have you?"

"It doesn't matter what her name is, she's Coulson's type, and that's good enough for him. Why is Skye calling herself Daisy?"

"To honor Cal, it seems," Lance grimaced. "Don't tell her that I said it, but her parents-"

"Don't," Melinda said firmly. "I have my own opinion of them and-"

Something, or rather – a group of beings – went past them. In the lead was a genuine dinosaur, a raptor, equipped with a bridle and a saddle. Jemma Simmons was riding it, looking much more outgoing and like her pre-Obelisk self, laughing happily and emitting an occasional 'Whee!'

Leo Fitz was racing after them, demanding his turn on the dinosaur, if Jemma was ever to bear his children.

An elderly gentleman, somewhat similar to May in the face and equipped with a walker, was trotting after Fitz, and yelling something in Chinese. He was clearly enjoying being a part of this, whatever 'this' was.

"That's my father," May said crossly (especially by her standards). "He decided...that he'll be visiting me... here...on occasion... to check on the dinosaur... I think he misses me and mother..."

"Far would it be to me to come between a mother and her child – wait, that's not it," Lance began, when Daisy promptly interrupted him by proclaiming, "May!" and giving Melinda a hug. "No, this sounds about right, I'll be going about my business now-" He turned around and promptly ran into Coulson, who just gave him and hug with both his real and detachable arms and began to sob into his chest, muttering how this used to be a cool secret base of a cool secret agency and all, and now-

"There, there," Lance said kindly, as he watched the FitzSimmons and their new friends vanish in the distance. "You know, May may be exactly who we needed around here."

/

"I must say, we hadn't had excitement like this in a while," Raina told Lincoln, as the two InHumans prepared for bed. "The bear-dog? It did not cause us half as much trouble as the dinosaur did."

"Of course," Lincoln nodded, absolutely serious. "Raina, we agreed, remember?"

Raina bit her lips. She regretted it, but she had to tell Lincoln that she...did not need to sleep, and actually felt better when she did not. When at first it was just her and the two ex-agents, (who were light sleepers in their own right), Raina made a workable agreement out with them: the two would sleep, more or less, on their bed, and Raina would sit, next to them, as either Ward or Palamas would hold one of her hands, and then...she would sleep. Somehow being in physical contact with the other people made Raina feel...more bearable about being herself.

When Lincoln came around, this arrangement had to go. Somehow, it didn't feel right, keeping him in the dark (unlike the others); plus, he too was an InHuman; maybe he had some ideas how to fix this?

Lincoln had, which included Raina sleeping with him, rather than Ward and Palamas. No sex was involved (but then again, Ward and Palamas themselves had not consummated their relationship yet, or they would have told her and Lincoln), but physical contact, (in part because they were sharing a bed) was definitely a factor – and it helped. Maybe it was because Raina herself had changed – she no longer had spikes, but something that felt more like real hair; her lips now felt more like her old, pre-change lips – but Raina now could sleep, sleep for real and that was good.

"Yes, we did," she nodded to her friend, as _both_ of them lay down on their separate pillows and closed their eyes (while holding hands). "Have a good night, Lincoln."

"Good night – Raina."

And then they both fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Because Raina (part 4)**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™._

Grant Ward was feeling, well, thoughtful. He has been doing this more and more lately, ever since he had found, well, closure with his family...and Skye, or agent Daisy (whatever her name truly was) had him shot. Possibly, it was just overcompensation for years and years of _thoughtless_ service for John Garrett, but nevertheless...

But nevertheless, Grant Ward did find himself thinking...not about that pesky 'if'- he was done with that, thank you very much – but about, well, his own life and the direction it had taken him in. Ever since Christian and his family had perished, Grant Douglass had honestly half expected to die, all by himself, lonely and forgotten, as it benefitted a wretched man – but he did not. Instead, he apparently had acquired a team of his own, including Kara Lynn Palamas, a very lovely and powerful woman (in character, rather than in body), who was currently sitting across from him, observing Amanda Powers' mark, but as back-up, rather than the main strike force.

Contrary to what other people could have thought – not that he cared – Kara Lynn did _not_ remind Grant Douglass of Skye/Daisy: the two women were quite different, even on a physical level. Kara Lynn was actually more like May (not that he was going to tell this to either of the women – he did not want his larynx crushed a second time), deceptively slim and delicate-looking, with snake-like speed and dexterity – and a mastery of knife fighting that was quite impressive even by the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s old standards. She was also dark, and beautiful, scar be damned, and Grant knew, he just knew, that she could be his, his partner, and perhaps – lawfully-wedded wife?

(Grant Ward was never religious – his biological family once gave lip service to Protestantism; he himself once flirted with Judaism and later on with Hinduism, but other than a determination not to eat beef or pork if other options were possible, nothing stuck. Well, except for the idea of the reincarnation: given a choice of an eternity in Hell and a chance of salvation via reincarnation, Grant will choose reincarnation every time. Kara Lynn, however, is very much a Catholic; she may not obsess over it, but she knows her faith's tenets, even if she had to look them up on the Internet once she had recovered. And once she did – she keeps them. Grant finds this to be very impressive, and intimidating, but so what? She believes in him, he believes in her, so perhaps their relationship can work.)

There was nothing deceptive about Skye – or Daisy, whatever she calls, or will call herself. She was always straightforward and always went for the direct confrontation. Bobbi Morse might have fancied herself to be that sort of woman, but Skye/Daisy truly was that sort of a real deal, and now that she had come into her own since Puerto Rico, she had truly evolved. There is nothing deceptively delicate about her; her body is that of a field agent, muscles and straight, powerful lines, especially below the waist, **cough**. (So sue him – he always cared more about the body than the face, even in a shallow manner.)

"What are you thinking about?" Kara Lynn asked quietly, she had gotten quite good at reading him over the months that they were together – or perhaps his emotionless mask had continued to slip the more he interacted with the other people on a regular basis.

"About you, about us, about Daisy," Grant told her the truth. Then, when he saw Kara Lynn's face distort in hurt, added, quickly: "not like how you think, see?" and he adjusted her glass so that she could see the reflection, and see just whom he had been observing on the sly.

"Oh," Kara Lynn instantly shifted from hurt to thoughtful. "This is going to be tricky, isn't it? Have you talked to V-"

"Yes," Grant nodded, and then Amanda Powers' plan came to a climax, as Rutzkevich the bank robber (and train robber, and a robber of other locations, etc) yelled suddenly:

"Judas!"

And there was shooting, and gunfire, and many other things that tend to occur in a gunfight – but it is not a long one. Rutzkevich is a gunslinger, not unlike those of the Wild West stories of old, but so's Dr. Amanda Powers, and this is no Wild West, but a border town between Poland and Austria of all places, so there is no story, no happy ending for Rutzkevich, if a man like that, with viper-like eyes, deserves a happy ending, that is. He is good with his six-shooter, and there is hellfire all over the floor, and Dr. Powers's gun has no mystical powers, but it does not matter: a single successful shot in the skull and the man falls, his own firearm dropping from his now-lifeless fingers.

"Quickly now," Grant shouts to Dr. Powers, as she moves, flanked by one of Alisha's clones, to pick up the gun – carefully and neatly, utilizing a mechanic grasper, built exactly for this sort of purpose – while he and Kara Lynn move to intercept S.H.I.E.L.D., however else they might've learned about this thing in the past to come here in the presence. "Johnson."

"Ward," Daisy nods, as she and Hunter glare at him and Palamas...well, no, they do not. Morse, who is also there, _is_ staring at them with a gaze that is distinctly unfriendly; Johnson's gaze is dark and enigmatic; and Hunter's, well...

"You know, the Cavalry is going to get you, mate, you and your girl, for that dinosaur," the Englishman says brightly.

"Oh? What's wrong with it?" Kara's voice is curious at the moment, not vicious.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Hunter keeps looking at her in a funny way – Grant doesn't like it; he doesn't like Hunter, period, but he's not going to be the one to throw the first punch, not here, at any rate. "It's more, precisely, as to what it had done – brought her family together once more."

"I don't follow," Kara Lynn admits.

"Meh, her mother got the idea that her father found himself another woman, and promptly came over to see her for herself," Hunter admitted, sheepishly. "When she saw the raptor, she was rather startled, for a moment, and then she promptly declared the dinosaur to be a 'he', and promptly sued – or rather threatened to sue – her ex, or not so ex, for the custody. One thing led to another – none of us follow Chinese all that well except for the Cavalry herself and she isn't telling – and her parents made up, and then they made out, right there in the base. Melinda's mother is quite shrill, it seems, her father is more bass, but listening to them going at it then and there...it was frankly disturbing: they're old enough to be May's parents, in fact, they _are_ May's parents, and they _are_ old, so listening to them...we could've lived without it..." he pauses and carefully finishes, mostly for the sake of Kara Lynn, though no one present really knows why:

"And the 'best' part is that they decided to buy a house in our neighbourhood so that they could visit their daughter at work if and when they felt like it," Hunter concludes. "Make no mistake, they are good people and all, but if they're going to come on a regular basis...the Cavalry thinks about moving to Europe at least part-time..."

"Well, good luck with that, seeing how currently we are in Europe already," Dr. Powers spoke up, as she finished handling the other weapon. "Mr. Ward, sir, we're finished here-"

"Alisha?" Grant turned to the redhead. "How are things with your other clones?"

"We're here," one of the other clones replied, as they appear from the outside, armed with Glocks, flanking Leo Fitz of all people. The S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist looks even smaller than he normally does, in part because he is flanked by a bear-dog...and a giant wild boar, of all creatures. "I believe this is the brains of this S.H.I.E.L.D. team?"

"He is," Ward nodded calmly. "Fitz."

"Ward," Fitz said neutrally. "Do you know what you're messing with?"

"Yes," Amanda Powers replied instead. "They do now; after Rutzkevich so obligingly gave them a demonstration, after my explanation..." she points to the corpse in question, which is decomposing far quicker than a normal corpse would. "You can take it for study if you want to, scientist," she adds magnanimously, in her best 'I got tenure and you don't" tone of voice.

There was a pause, as the others – and not just S.H.I.E.L.D. – stared at the corpse. "You know, we cannot let you go," Daisy begins.

The giant boar, on Fitz's right, grunts and lowers his head, revealing his tusks. They are big enough, strong enough, and sharp enough, to slice right through the small scientist. The bear-dog on Fitz's left does not look any happier with Daisy's statement either.

"You know, I don't think that ICERs are going to cut it here," Hunter has estimated their foes' physical mass and is not very happy with his conclusion. "Ditto for the regular firearms. Bob, you don't have any elephant guns on you, would you?"

"No," Morse replied curtly, looking at Palamas. If a fly would fly between the two women, it would be vaporized. "Daisy, we have to let them go."

"We can take them" Daisy spoke, but not very certainly.

"Got a boatload of Semtex in the kitchen that says otherwise," one of Alisha's clones speaks up, even s she produces a KA-BAR knife. "Think you'll be able to handle it too?"

"We got Mack-"

"Mack's down for the count," Fitz admits bitterly. "He's alive, but out of it."

"Kara Lynn," Bobbi suddenly begins and stops, at the look that the smaller woman gives her. It is deadly, pure and simply.

"Don't speak to me," former agent 33 says firmly. "Otherwise I will hit you. You had your chance, and now we're done."

"Fine," Daisy speaks up, before Bobbi can continue – or not, for the look on Palamas' face effectively had caused the blonde woman to fall into silence. "Go. You won this round. Happy?"

Ward does not reply. He takes Kara Lynn by the arm, in case she does decide to go after _her_ ex, and beckons for Dr. Powers to take the lead alongside Alisha's clone. Then he and Kara Lyn follow suit. He, for one, can feel the agents' gaze on them, but he does not care. He is honestly done with S.H.I.E.L.D., after all.

/

"...And then they just took off with the gun and all," Daisy concluded the report to Coulson. "I got to admit, I thought that they would posture a little or something. They did appear to be making nice with the dinosaur and all - it _is_ a real dinosaur, right?"

"Nope," Jemma spoke instead in that perky tone that bordered in disturbing, actually. "I checked its cellular structure – all of its cells contain a certain large molecule that all 'natural' animals just lack. This dinosaur was created in a lab, though I am not sure if we are talking InGen here or what. Given the state of InGen and its allies at the moment, I would not discount it, not yet. They might be missing a raptor, after all."

"You mean, our new mascot really _is_ a velociraptor?" Hunter could not help but to ask.

"Lance," Jemma gave her countryman a look, "all of InGen's dinosaurs are hybrids of some sort or another and the raptors are most of all. I do not know if they are more of a velociraptor, or deinonychus, or what. I would really need to talk to some of their scientists...but that isn't likely, not really, not right now."

There was a pause as the others thought over this statement of Jemma's. "Maybe we can get back to the business at hand?" Bobbi suggested almost shyly. "Or not, since I guess there isn't much to talk about. Price's lead checked out, we came there, got unprepared, the end. We have suffered setbacks in the past, after all."

"True," Coulson admitted, as he looked down at his hands, both the real and the attachment. "It's just-"

"Yes?"

"After the incident with the dinosaur, I thought that Ward and Palamas would actually be interested in a deal," the director continued, reluctantly. "It looked like they were trying to mend bridges and all."

"What do we have that they'd be interested in?" Daisy asked, curious despite her initial expectations. "They do have each other, some other people, and a menagerie of sorts..."

"Kara Lynn had a daughter, some years ago before she was captured," Coulson elaborated. "The girl – Suzy Therese – is currently under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection." Upon seeing the curious looks of the others, he elaborated. "It's sort of a daycare/school for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' children. It survived after the initial fall, and continues to run, more or less smoothly. I talked with Hill and Fury: they are handling it, not I, because I am not any good with children, plus-"

"So what, you're thinking that Palamas might be interesting in cutting a deal with us?" Hunter frowned in thought. "Something in exchange for the girl? But...she hadn't."

"Except that now she does," Fitz could not help but to argue back. "The gun – it exhibits similar energy signatures to the Berserker staff, and-"

"She wasn't the one running the operation – the shooter, the dyed blonde, did," Bobbi spoke up. "Who says that Ward and Palamas are in charge of the outfit, anyways? Neither of them were exactly leadership material even back in the past – so why should they be now?"

"Well, the dyed blonde did address Ward as 'Mr. Ward'-"

"Just because she's polite doesn't mean that she is in charge-"

"Stop," Daisy interrupted the bickering couple. "I mean, when Hunter argues with Fitz, it's kind of cute, in a Hetalia sort of way, but you and him? Not so much."

"Oi," the couple protested, but Daisy plowed on.

"And DC?"

"Yes?"

Daisy thought over her reply some more. "I got nothing," she admitted. "Maybe next time Palamas, or Ward, or someone else of their outfit will be willing to deal, but for now, yeah, we got nothing."

"Hey," Joey, the ex- _CIA_ agent looked into the meeting room. "Agent Mack had recovered from his beating. "Any of you want to talk to him?"

They all did.

/

It was dark. It was night. It was daytime in Europe, but in northern Australia? It was still night. "That was so not how I imagined our latest face-off with S.H.I.E.L.D. happening," Kara Lynn confessed to Grant Douglass. "How'd they even got the info? Powers did not even want to share it with Alisha and the twins-"

"I think they were just as surprised as we were, when we encountered each other," Ward confessed. "Hence why they believed the whole piece about Semtex, too. What is really bothering you, Kara Lynn?"

"I don't know," the other former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent replied. "Somehow, this whole confrontation thing went kind of dissatisfying – but then again, this is what S.H.I.E.L.D. is to me - dissatisfying. They promised once, a lot, but failed to deliver."

"And what do you want? Suzy Therese?" Grant asked quietly. He _had been_ surprised to learn that Palamas already had a daughter, but did not really care. Perhaps it would even be fitting for him to take care of someone else's child, considering how the men in his family treated women, who knows? "Then maybe we should send some fillers out – just in case. Somehow I got the feeling that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents honestly expected us to chat some more back in Poland – you know, for the old times' sake or something."

"There's nothing I want to talk to them about...and you don't care about my daughter?" Kara Lynn raised her unruined eyebrow at him.

"Ok, first of all – I _do_ care," Grant said flatly. "Secondly, she _is_ going to become my daughter too. I'm not saying this out of the goodness of my heart or anything, but I do like the idea of being a father, a fact that brings me to my third point – I also like the idea of her having younger siblings in the future, you know?"

"You mean you don't care about this?" Kara Lynn pointed to her scar (she had taken her mask off for bedtime).

"No," Ward shook his head, as he gently adjusted Kara Lynn's position upon him. "I may not be the hero I pretended to be, once, but I'm not _that_ shallow either, thank you very much – and by the way, have I told you that your skin looks as fine as dark chocolate?"

Kara Lynn giggled into Grant's chest, before turning serious once more. "What about your ex-"

"What about _your_ ex?" Grant countered the question. "Can I be honest here? For me, Johnson is going to remain a part of 'what could've been' package, but that is it, really. And you?"

Kara Lynn promptly told Grant where her ex can go. "And there you have it," Grant shrugged. "Kara...I'm afraid our family life won't be picture perfect, but I don't think that it will be horrid either. I want to make it work, so do you, so...it'll work."

"But aren't you afraid that it won't?"

"Extremely," Ward grimaced. "My biological family was rotten from the core; I think I'm not much better-"

"Yes you are. Much better," Kara Lynn told him firmly, looking him in the eye. "Than my father was, that is. You're going to be a wonderful dad to Suzy Therese."

"I certainly hope so – which does mean, I suppose, that we start of thinking of ways to cooperate with Coulson. I mean, an IOU from us to him and his agency possibly could work, but I'm not sure – the man isn't who I thought that he was, once."

"Point," Kara admitted. "It's not that I don't want to mend bridges, but going about it all legal and all? That is also good. Plus, Suzy Therese...she's still excited about working for S.H.I.E.L.D., so I would rather give her a chance for the future..."

"And so she shall," Grant agreed. "For the moment, though, we got nothing." He looked thoughtful. "Course, neither's S.H.I.E.L.D., otherwise they would've brought it up – just to see how we react."

There was a _thoughtful_ pause, as the two ex-agents thought about their current position in regards to S.H.I.E.L.D., and about Dr. Powers' family legacy, and-

"Am I – are we – interrupting anything?" Raina asked shyly as she and Lincoln walked into their bedroom.

"Nothing that you might think about," Kara Lynn told the younger woman. "What's up?"

"I had another vision," Raina admitted. "It involved agent Simmons."

"Well, we were thinking about playing nice with S.H.I.E.L.D.," Ward shrugged, "so if you want to contact the agency – Leo Fitz's e-mail address is over there."

Raina blinked. "You're being awfully easy-going about this-"

Grant and Kara exchanged looks and reluctantly got off their bed. "Let me explain about my slash our daughter, Suzy Therese," Palamas explained.

/

"...and this is how I lost, I swear," Mack finished telling his tale, as he sat in the infirmary. "Seriously, I know that I'm more of an engineer than a field agent, but still. That guy was big, but so am I, so I expected to be able to stand up to him, you know?"

"We get it, Mackenzie," Daisy said gently: lately she and the big agent actually became good enough friends. "It's just that, well, I think that your opponent was a shapeshifter of some sort, rather like our friend from Cuba."

"What _is_ his name?" Mack grimaced. "I asked him, and he gave an obviously fake alias - something straight out of Steven Leacock...you know the sort of big Canadian humour author from the turn of the 20th century?" The others just looked blank. "Never mind. So, why are you here?"

"To check up on you," Fitz blinked. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Mack admitted, "it's just that I felt recently like the odd man out, or something – Morse is busy with Hunter, you – with Simmons, and the others...I'm not as close with them, I suppose."

There is an embarrassed pause. "Sorry about that," Daisy broke it first. "I guess with the latest rise of the InHumans everything is off kilter now."

"That's ok," Mack shrugged dismissively. "What happened after I got knocked out?"

"Eh, they secured the gun – I still think that it is bastardized Asgardian technology, BTW, and got away, through sheer bluff," Fitz explained. "And now Daisy and the rest of us are off kilter, as you say, because somehow the meeting got so impersonal, plus no one had time to get hurt – except for Rutzkevich, and he's something else."

"How so?"

"Judging by the rate his body is decomposing," Simmons spoke promptly, "I have to agree with Fitz – the gun is similar to the Berserker Staff, save that the effects on a human body are more extreme, the cells of the deceased aren't really even fully human anymore."

"...Jemma?"

"Yes Leo?"

"You sound more like your old self."

"Yes Leo. Thank you."

There was another pause, as no one knew how to fill it, which was done...by Joey, actually.

"Oy! Boss!" the ex-CIA spy yelled, as he entered the medical bay. "I mean director! Agent Melinda May called – she said that you promised to run interference between her and her parents, and that time is now. She didn't sound like a woman that you'd want to argue with on this topic either."

Coulson grimaced. "Ok, ok, I'm coming," he sourly said and left, surprisingly quickly – but then again, when May was in a bad mood, not even he wanted to cross her and make it worse.

"...I bet that Rosalyn Price didn't have to deal with that," Daisy muttered sourly. "Stupid dragon lady with her military minions, too."

"Just ignore her," Fitz told the confused Joey. "She's just sore that Ward had gotten over her at last."

"That's not it," Daisy shook her hand. "It's just...I don't know, this isn't right. Or rather – it is just a part of what is going on lately. Coulson is having a relationship with the head of ATCU; May is bonding with her parents...sort of; Ward has a girlfriend? That is just more of the same. Maybe I am uncomfortable, but no one else here seems to like Rosalyn Price too much either."

"Well..." before Fitz could think of a counterargument, one of his lab assistants walked into the medical bay:

"Sir you got an e-mail."

"It's actually addressed to _me_ ," Jemma pointed out in a reasonable tone of voice as she looked over the e-mail, which was more of a sketch than anything else. "Interesting."

"What's so interesting?"

"It's a depiction of a head-hunter from the planet I've been stranded on," Jemma continued in the same reasonable tone of voice. "Looks like some poor person is going to get their head ripped off, too."

"Excuse me?" Leo blanched. Somehow, even in S.H.I.E.L.D., people were not used to talking about living on other planets instead of Earth, plus there was the whole head-ripping thing.

"I was stranded on a planet in the Serpens constellation," Jemma continued to explain. "It's very far away from our Solar system, and I did get involved with some of the local politics, I must say. Now there is a headhunter after me. I think I will have to ask May and her family to loan me her dinosaur."

"Jemma," Leo spoke in a very reasonable tone of voice. "We're S.H.I.E.L.D. We can defeat any alien head-hunter-"

"You think?" Jemma was still sceptical. "These aliens are rather resilient to fire, and electricity actually makes them stronger-"

"So we'll figure out something else," Mack joined the discussion. "After all, I don't remember when ICING an alien worked out all that well from the start."

The others nodded and pretended that yes, they too had been thinking about the ICERs all along.

"But I'm still going to get the dinosaur," Jemma said firmly. "It makes me feel safe."

"I thought that _I_ made you feel safe," Leo could not help but to argue.

"Yes, but the dinosaur has six-inch claws on its feet. You don't have six-inch claws on your feet, do you?" Jemma did not back down.

"No," Leo said firmly. "I don't. I am not getting them either – the whole animal-human hybrid thing isn't as hyped as it sounds."

"Maybe you should try lycanthropy instead," Joey suggested, even though he should have known better by now.

And as he continued to argue with the FitzSimmons, Daisy, for one, felt that things in S.H.I.E.L.D. were not so bad overall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Because Raina (part five)**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™._

 _AN – I think that we can safely say that we have strayed off into the AU zone here._

And so it came to pass that Andrew Garner, a doctor of medicine and psychiatry (of mental health, to use a layperson term) came home, he was greeted by the site of his estranged ex-wife, Melinda Quilian May, also known as the Cavalry, half-sitting, half-lying on his couch, looking drawn and exhausted, even by her terms.

"Can I crash here, for a while?" she asked simply. "My parents are driving me crazy!"

"Haven't we done this before?" Andrew replied, just as simply. "Few decades and a marriage ago?"

"Yes," Melinda agreed, "and it looks like _someone's_ dream has come true. My parents are back together, they currently _do_ live close from my main place of work, and they even got themselves a pet – a dinosaur – to take care of while I am away."

"...I'm sorry, what now?"

"A dinosaur, like the ones that are being made by InGen," the Cavalry repeated, 'helpfully'. "I actually acquired it as a reconciliation gift between myself and the ex-agent 33. It is actually rather friendly and can be cowed easily. It's a raptor."

"I don't suppose that I can come over and take a look at it for myself?" Andrew spoke in an excited tone of voice. "I did want to go to see this whole 'Jurassic World' park, but...I couldn't find the right words to invite you along, I didn't want to go by myself – and now the park is closed. Technical difficulties, their site says."

"You could've always taken someone else," Melinda said evenly, as she looked Andrew straight in the eye.

"Yes," Andrew admitted, "but I wanted to take you. My second choice," he added with a slight smile, hoping that his ex-wife would get the joke, "was Phil Coulson, but somehow it didn't feel the same-"

"I see that Phil is back to his old tricks. When he was younger, he was one of the more popular cadets and agents back at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Melinda grimaced – also slightly. "Anyways, I still want to know – can I crush here? I got my own place back in the HQ, of course, but it is still too close to my parents for comfort now, and furthermore, they want me to sleep over at their place 'every once in a while'. Make no mistake – I love them, I'll die for them if I have to, but I'm a grown woman who doesn't need to sleep over at her parents' place because they're worried about her love-life or lack of therefore!"

"That bad?" Andrew could not help but wince himself – his family and May's had been friends for a long time, since the 1940s actually, but even in best of times he found his in-laws to be overwhelming in the long term. On a permanent basis – he did not even want to imagine.

"Yes," May nodded. "Ever since the whole Theta protocol I knew that my friendship with Phil – director Coulson – was largely over, but seeing him with this Price woman – it's something else."

"I'm sorry, who now?" Andrew could not help but to ask.

"Rosalyn Price," Melinda elaborated. "She's the head of ACTU. Daisy calls her the Dragon Lady. Phil – director Coulson – really seems to be into her lately." She paused, wanting to add something else, but said nothing.

Neither did Andrew. Silence stretched. It was not exactly uncomfortable, but it was awkward, since the last time this sort of thing happened it had been years away, the incident in Bahrain and one divorce away, and neither Melinda nor Andrew really knew how to break it now.

"So," they both started to speak at the same time; Andrew beckoned, indicating that Melinda could speak first.

"So can I stay here?" the Cavalry asked, quietly (even more quietly than how she usually did speak).

"Yes," Andrew nodded seriously. "Mind you, I don't usually stay here-"

"It your home-"

"Yes, but I feel more at home at my office," Andrew shrugged, "and even at your HQ. I, uh, don't have too many people visiting me here, you know?"

Melinda thought this over. They were not very happy or pleasant thoughts. "This was a happy place, once," she said, half-lost in a trip down the memory lane. "A noisy and well-peopled place..."

Andrew cleverly chose to say nothing.

"I'm sorry," Melinda continued, in the same contemplative tone of voice. "I should've taken Fury's offer of retirement those 7 years ago – maybe in this case, by now, I would've recovered from it all. But I could not, Andrew, not back then – I just could not. And now, well, we are paying it for it. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Andrew confessed. "But, Melinda, we're both still alive and sane and what else have you. Maybe we can recover something. Plus, your parents are busy with your dinosaur – so they should not interfere as much – hopefully." He paused and added, with a rather sucking-up grin: "Can you tell me more about the dinosaur, please?"

"You just want to play with it," Melinda rolled her eyes. "But very well, I'll comply."

"Thank you, mistress!"

Melinda glared.

/

The formerly neat and professional studio was currently in disarray, as furniture and technology, indeterminate materials and human corpses – of staff, of bodyguards, of people of other occupations – were lying all over the place in a colorful mess. (This may have sounded humorous, but was gristly to behold.) The smells of destruction and death were permeating the air, and complete with the flickering and malfunctioning lights, the atmosphere was complete – and not in a good way.

Striding through this whole scenery was a misshapen ogre of an InHuman, the entity who called himself Lash, (of Orollan), and who was rather enjoying himself, though not in any way that could be considered good or wholesome or anything like that.

"Where, where are you?!" he bellowed, as he strode the desolated and devastated corridors. "I can smell your false trail!"

"You sure that you don't smell _me_ instead, Ho Chin Minh?"

The speaker sounded female, and not even very big, so Lash should not have felt worried. Regardless, he stopped and slowly turned around, almost cautiously for such a big predator.

"Ho Chin Minh," he said slowly, almost tasting the words. "This is a name that I hadn't heard of in quite a while. Who are you, who knows it? Tell me, before I bury you alongside it!"

"You have forgotten me – it's quite forgivable, given the circumstances," the woman replied, as she moved within his range of sight. (He could smell and hear her by now already, but that did not matter, given the current unusual situation). "But maybe you do remember me – I'm Raina. I was the girl in the flower dress."

Lash, (or whoever he truly was), almost did not hear the words – he was busy looking at the InHuman female, and it was an interesting sight. InHumans tend to vary between each other on an individual level even more so than ordinary people without alien DNA tend to do, but her, her... Green skin. Spikes – or leathery strips – for hair. A flat, misshapen nose. Large, keen, sensitive (and observant) eyes. All of this could go for either of them. Both of them. Whatever.

"Raina," Lash said, rather than growled, from his crouching position. "The girl in the flower dress. You are the one who made me strong. You are the one who made me better! You're the one who made me super human!"

"Have I?" Raina did not blink (in any sense of the word). "How so – tell me."

"You showed me the light; you gave me the power of fire, so that my old self could die, and my new, true self could live!"

"Is that what happened?" Unlike Lash, Raina did not crouch – she continued to stand straight and tall...though this only meant that the two of them could literally look into each other's eyes, given their difference in height. "I didn't know. All I knew was that you sat a building afire – and then you died."

"No. My _old_ self died – my new self, this self, lived! I found new powers, new self, new purpose!"

"I don't know," Raina shrugged. "Your old powers – they were more impressive. They were fire. Fire can kill – but it can also heal, and in the rights hands, with the right mind, with the right heart...but this does not matter to you, Lash. You may call yourself Lash, but your powers are ash, and smoke – the fire died. I helped it die. I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lash snorted, emitting the aforementioned smoke from his nostrils. "I'm bigger than I was, stronger, better! And my powers..." he disintegrated a section of a nearby wall. "They are the same as they were, just less showy, less flashy, and more practical and pointed, you can say."

"And you're happy with how you are?"

"Yes," Lash grunted, as he realized that it was not _Raina_ who asked the question – but a different person, who somehow also was familiar to him.

"Lincoln!" Raina exclaimed – she had no problems with identification, unlike Lash. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay back-"

"Just because the ogre over there had already run me out of town once, doesn't mean that I will lurk in the shadows for the rest of my life, hiding from him, ACTU, S.H.I.E.L.D., and everyone else," the other InHuman man glared back at her. "And yes, I know that I'm not as impressive as Grant Ward, or V, are, but still, I am a man, your man, I was kind of assuming, and I really have no intention of you facing this ogre by yourself."

"Um," Raina looked away first. "This isn't how it was supposed to go, I need – I thought I need – to face Ho Chin Minh alone; my actions created him, I'm responsible-"

"I don't know, he seems to be largely his own man here," Lincoln didn't finish, as Lash, who wasn't used to being ignored, used his superior size and strength to pick them both up off the floor.

"You, a man?" he snorted at Lincoln with disdain rather than anger. "You're a boy – my birthmarks are probably older than you are. What would you know about women, anyways? You even smell like a virgin-"

Lincoln hit him, for unbeknownst to himself, Lash had hit a very sore spot here. Throughout most of his life in Li Shi, Lincoln had been rather overshadowed by the older, more imposing and handsome Gordon. Eyes or no eyes, Gordon was the ladies' man out of the two, even Raina liked him better, and if Gordon had not been so under Jiaying's thumb, then who knows how things between him and Raina would have worked out?

...Lincoln had been Gordon's friend, he honestly missed Gordon ever since the older man had died, but somehow, when he thought about him and Raina being together, it really ruined his mood – and Lash's latest comments had hit that sore spot had on. So, Lincoln almost snarled, and hit Lash – right in the face, with lightning crackling around his fists.

The results were rather dissatisfying for both men. Lash did drop both Lincoln and Raina onto the floor as he staggered backwards, small rivulets of blood flowing down his cheeks...but that was it. Otherwise, he was still very much unhurt, but really angry, his own energy crackling around his fists.

"Good bye, little man," he snarled, looking with a genuinely furious facial expression down at Lincoln. "You've made it personal-"

"I don't think so," Grant Ward spoke from behind the bigger (surprisingly) man.

/

 _Several hours earlier..._

Grant Ward was clearly aware that Raina wanted to talk to him, but did also clearly not know how to approach him. This was unusual, since usually the woman in question had no problem in telling him anything, though she was rather unsure that he would listen to her in the first place. This current situation was something different enough for Ward to decide to make the first overture himself.

"What's up?" he said simply. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"Not funny," Raina blushed and glared at him at the same time. "It's about Lash."

"You're right, it's not funny," Grant agreed. "Lash...I am, I was, very low on the evolutionary scale, but Lash? He actually managed to do one worse than me, and that takes effort." He paused, remembering how he and Kara Lynn had been able to rescue Alisha, Lincoln's self-proclaimed older sister, from the InHuman in question. "So what about him?"

"I need to confront him."

"Ok," Ward thought this over. "Can I or any of the others help?"

"...That's it. You're not angry, or reluctant, or anything?"

"Will S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be involved?"

"No."

"Then there's your answer," Grant shrugged. "So can I or any of the others help?"

"Well, yes," Raina admitted. "I do need to get to Memphis."

"Memphis?"

"Memphis Tennessee," Raina elaborated, being aware by now that there were several cities of this name in the world. "Can you get me there?"

"Of course, but I was talking more about back-up-"

"I don't know about that," Raina confessed. "I made Lash, I may must be the one to unmake him-"

"...How'd you _make_ him? Was John involved?" Grant's eyes budged from confusion.

"...Actually yes – sort of," Raina confessed. "Remember Hong Kong? Remember the man with fire in his arms and ambition in his heart? That is him."

Grant continued to stare. By now, he and the others were used to Raina's non-standard approach to things, but this, this was something else.

"I remember Hong Kong," he said thoughtfully. "Mainly because of the mess between Skye – or Daisy – and Miles, but still. So, the InHumans can evolve even more?"

"Yes, sort of," Raina confessed, "or am I not the case enough for you?"

Grant thought this over. "I'm kind of thinking of InHuman as Pokémon," he confessed. "Some stay the same throughout their lives, others evolve once or twice. That said, I assumed that you were like Cal – an ordinary person who had gained InHuman traits via medical experiments or something-"

"No. Cal just awoke my inner InHuman – and we are _not_ like Pokémon! Even comparing Lincoln to Pikachu is getting ridiculous! Can you please stop it?"

"Who's comparing me to Pikachu – oh, it's just Grant. Raina, just ignore him," Lincoln chose this precise moment to appear on the scene – and Grant reacted quite quickly:

"Lincoln, we're going to Tennessee to confront Lash – want to come?" he asked the younger man.

Lincoln turned red, then white, as he reached some inner decision. "Yes," he finally spoke. "I have to."

Raina blinked and stared at Lincoln in a way that was somehow new and different. "You do?" she asked in a carefully controlled tone of voice.

"Yes."

/

 _Now_

"Hello, Lash," Grant politely told the bigger man, even as he ducked, and the mighty blow of Lash's, which would've taken his head off, missed, and hit a wall, demolishing it further. "How's it been doing?" His tone of voice told everyone loud and clear that for him 'Lash' was a stand-in for 'asshole' instead.

"You!" Lash bellowed, his face further distorted from anger. "Gnat! You dare to stand up to me!"

"Have you forgotten what happened the last time we fought?" Ward kept the distance between the two of them stable, even as Kara Lynn sneaked from the back, and helped Lincoln and Raina onto their feet – the younger couple were still woozy from their own confrontation with the ogre. "I'm a murderer, yes, but you, Lash of Orollan, you're no hero either, whatever delusions you might have, or whoever you truly serve."

"I serve a greater cause!" Lash snarled as he tried to bring down his fists down on Ward in a very powerful strike. Sadly for him, Grant's kick reached him first, knocking his head back, and so Lash's destructive power slammed too close to him, breaking apart the floor and causing him to fall down, into the building's basement, perhaps.

"Your problem, Lash, is that you're not quite monstrous enough, or perhaps – not in the right way," Grant said conversationally, as he hurried to catch-up with Kara Lynn and the others. "To become a true monster, you have to retain a tiny bit of your humanity, as John had done with me or Whitehall with Sunil Bakshi. Since you do not, you will always be second rate. See you!" and he left.

/

"Director Coulson?" Rosalyn Price, the leader of ACTU, spoke carefully and professionally, even as she confronted her S.H.I.E.L.D. counterpart (relatively speaking). "Why'd you call me? Got something to share?" The latter was a sticky point, as Price and Coulson, ACTU and S.H.I.E.L.D. did not really trust each other, or like each other...though perhaps in case of Price and Coulson as _people_ the situation was rather different... perhaps.

"Yes," Coulson said brightly, as Daisy, Mack and Bobbi delivered a large _headless_ person, who was, nevertheless, very much alive and struggling with his captors. "We're not quite sure who or what he is, but this is, perhaps, a genuine full-blooded alien, so we decided, in the interests of sharing-"

"Stop," Rosalyn Price gave Coulson a distinctly unimpressed look. "We know how S.H.I.E.L.D. feels about _sharing_ since the Chicago incident back in 2007. In any case, what's with the whole headless situation?"

"Oh, he hid his head somewhere, and decapitated some poor soul for their head for a disguise," Jemma Simmons helpfully told the older woman. "That's what their kind do – we think," she added belatedly. She and Fitz too had come to the scene of the exchanged, (one-sided as it was), but had been staying in the background – until now.

"Agent Dr. Simmons," Rosalyn did not seem to be too impressed with Jemma's new attitude. "I would've offered you and your partner jobs at the terror control unit, but something tells me that it would've been pointless."

"Like, totally," Jemma agreed brightly.

"Duly noted," the older woman paused. "Since you appear to be genuinely sincere about this entire cooperation situation, I suppose I- we got something to share with you. It is not as grand as a genuine alien or an InHuman, who can survive without their head, but it does concern the InHuman known as Lash. Do you want to see it?"

"See what?" Daisy said cautiously. "We know firsthand what Lash can do?"

"Ah, but this is something else," Rosalyn said with the sort of bland smile that made Daisy even more wary of the older woman. "It seems that someone has stood up to him – your friend, former Dr. Campbell. He has new friends too, it seems, and at least one of them is InHuman too - vividly so."

"She wouldn't, perchance, have green skin, yellow eyes and spikes?" Daisy said, trying to do a job of keeping her own voice carefully bland and not quite succeeding (but not quite failing either).

"Yes she does," Rosalyn nodded. "Still – are you interested?"

"Yes," Coulson said firmly. "If someone had stood up to Lash, we're interested in seeing this."

"Then let's have a look."

And they did.

/

"Well, that was educational," Lance said sarcastically, after the relatively brief – 10-15 minutes long – video had ended. "It's _so_ nice to see those familiar faces, too."

"You know those people?" Rosalyn gave Lance such a look, that the former British agent decided to backpedal instead (something that he did only rarely).

"Yes, but why don't the others explain it to you?" he told the leader of ACTU. "After all, others know them better than I do."

"They do?" Rosalyn turned to face Coulson instead. "Please?"

"Very well," Coulson said, giving Lance a clearly unhappy look: this wasn't the sort of secret that could be kept under wraps for long, but still, the way Lance did it wasn't the best way of doing it either. "The group's leader is the man called Grant Ward. He used to be one of us, until he was revealed to be one of Hydra's plants. He killed several agents, also – his own family, and currently remains at large. We're not sure what his plans are, or if he has any of his own – for all of his skills, he seems to prefer to follow the lead of others, such as John Garrett."

"I heard _that_ name," Rosalyn said thoughtfully. "He was a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, I remember."

"They both were," Coulson said bitterly, "in fact, many of Hydra's double-agents were. We're not sure about Kara Lynn Palamas, the 'other' woman in your video – she too was one of us, and there had been rumors of her being actually brainwashed by Hydra, but the last time we checked, she was free of any of Hydra programming, yet in the end, she made her choice and thrown her lot with Ward – they are probably lovers, but we cannot be sure."

"Very well, and the other two? I know that Lincoln Campbell worked with Jiaying-"

"We were able to persuade him, to make him understand that what Jiaying did was genocide," Coulson said flatly – he didn't like to admit it, but Jiaying had been one of his biggest failures, and it ranked. He honestly hoped to resolve the confrontation peacefully for everyone's sake, and when Jiaying had revealed her true colors...let's just say, that whatever Daisy told him how the InHumans were good people at heart, he had his doubts, though he was ready to give them a chance too, provided that they take it... "In any case, after Jiaying was stopped, we offered him a position at S.H.I.E.L.D. He refused, and for several months remained a civilian, until the encounter with Lash, which you know about. He refused to come to us even then, fled instead, and the last we saw him, he was in Dallas, where he was apparently retrieved by Ward and his team."

"Apparently?"

"We didn't have clear footage at the time," Coulson admitted, "and assumed a possibility of there being yet another power group in the new world."

"Oh?"

"Yes. There's us, there's you, there's Hydra, there can be anyone else," Coulson shrugged. "As for the last person – her name's Raina Underwood. She used to be associated with John and Grant, but later we assumed that she worked with the InHumans of Li Shi, not with Hydra..." he shook his head. "We did a psychological profile of the woman, admittedly before she underwent the transformation, but still. She was self-centered, largely lacked self-preservation and had some very unhealthy delusions of grandeur, among other things. She needed professional help, but her transformation in the Kree temple made things worse instead."

"You make them sound like a group of monsters and villains, so why did they confront Lash?" Rosalyn asked quietly.

"Because Ward is correct – Lash isn't really a monster, but rather the worst kind of tool," Coulson did not back down. "He is doing someone else's bidding, obviously, and that someone else is covering up for Lash – otherwise we, or you, or someone else, would've caught him and finished him-"

"We almost did," Rosalyn confessed. "We got this footage because I had two of my agents – Cavanaugh and Harper, you haven't met them – set a trap for him, and it could've worked, if Raina and the others didn't confront him altogether. Is it true what she and the others had said? That he was once an Indexed man-"

"Lash didn't deny it, and we cannot prove or disprove it," Coulson shook his head, "and you tried to capture him? Really?"

"We are the _ATCU_ , you know," Price shot back acidly, "we're supposed to _control_ the _alien terrors_ , hence why your interest in us. It also means that we do some ops without your involvement, just as you do things without ours."

"Good point," Coulson admitted with the blank smile on his face. "We need to figure out where we stand in relation to each other after all."

"Yes, let's do that," Rosalyn got up and looked at her watch. "Well, it is getting late, the weather's beastly, and I need to get going. See you around, everyone," and she was gone.

"Nice to see you too," Lance muttered sarcastically, before turning back to Coulson. "Don't want to undercut you, _boss_ , but the last I heard we were thinking over bartering or negotiating with Ward's team, didn't we? Do not like the man himself, but I do like to know where we stand with him, just to make things orderly, yes?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Ward and the others aren't very interested in cooperating with us," Coulson calmly replied, "so they're probably enemies of ours, something that ATCU needs to know. And if they disagree or something – it is their call. They _are_ separate from us, after all."

"Excuse me," Rosalyn Price returned, looking slightly more shaken. "Why is there a dinosaur on your base? You're working with the InGen too?"

"No, this is something else," Coulson said calmly, "and the dinosaur is our mascot. We could not get an actual eagle, so we are making do with a raptor instead. Usually agent May can control it-"

"Come on, I'll help you get by it," agent Morse said quickly, and the two women left.

"Well, that was awkward," Jemma told Daisy; the latter, thinking her over thoughts, said nothing in reply.

 _TBC_


	6. Chapter 6

**Because Raina (part 6)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

The day was clear and warm – a true rarity for the end of autumn. Dr. Garner, a professional psychologist, (among other things), was busy examining the contents of the fridge inside his home. So far, the inspection was not giving him any jollies, but only served to remind him that he was staying in the apartment only very, very rarely.

"Stuffed peppers? Stuffed cabbage rolls? What was I thinking _with_ when I bought them?" the man mused aloud, even as his estranged wife, Melinda May, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was busy finishing taking her shower. Indeed, she was the primary reason as to why Andrew Garner was busy examining the contents of his refrigerator – he wanted to give Melinda something nice for breakfast, and so far he was experiencing an epic fail, sadly.

"Andrew? What's wrong?" the woman in question, still clad mostly only in a towel, emerged upon the scene, and with her professional training, she quickly saw the root of the matter. "Oh my. Andrew, I know that you're a fully grown adult man and all, but honestly, you're just living off cold vegetables stuffed with preservatives and the like?"

"No, I mostly survive off the campus' cafeteria," Andrew confessed, "this is more of a back-up plan."

"I see. Andrew, if this sort of thing was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s back up, then any plan involving this would be a suicide mission. Andrew, I cannot help but to suggest, or even to demand, that we eat out! What do you say?"

"I like this idea," Andrew exhaled with relief. "Now I know that you don't like Oriental food very much, or Greek-"

"Greek food is fine, but it is too often used in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cafeteria, or rather was, but still. I would rather eat anything else when I'm off duty," Melinda paused and blinked. "God, this feels weird. I never thought that I would actually _be_ off duty well ever!"

"...How are you planning to do this?" Andrew asked quietly, but very seriously. "Are you off duty or what?"

"I don't know," Melinda confessed, as she too grew more serious...well, more like her regular, everyday self, actually. "Obviously, the situation has changed; with my parents around being my self isn't going to be easy...and I don't think I want to, anymore."

"...Why?" Andrew asked a different question, and not the one he wanted to ask initially. "What happened?"

"I don't know, it just happened slowly," Melinda replied, looking away. "It's probably Coulson's fault, but I just don't feel like myself anymore."

"Well, who do you feel like?"

"I don't know, but I would like if you helped me to find this out," Melinda looked at her interlocutor in an unexpectedly shy way (for her, anyways). "Do you want to?"

"Yes," Andrew confessed. "This goes without saying-"

"Really?" Melinda blinked staring at him in a manner that she had not used on him ever since the two of them had become...young adults, actually. "You do?"

Before the two of them could go even further down the memory lane, Melinda's communicator rang.

"Yes?" she spoke, rather crossly, into it. "Who _specifically_ it is?"

"It's me," Coulson spoke brightly...well, with his trademark bland brightness, actually, which meant that he was in his professional mode, actually. "Where have you been?"

"At Andrew's," Melinda shrugged, even though Coulson could not really see her – it was an old-fashioned communicator, without any visual. "I'm sorry, but I need some distance from my parents."

"That makes sense," Coulson muttered quietly: Melinda's parents were the sort of people that did require some distance to be managed with. "Are you going to make this a regular thing?"

"The two of us were working this out," Melinda nodded, "why are you calling me?"

"We, I mean the team, apprehended an alien head-hunter," Phil said diplomatically, "and you were unaccounted for. We were worried. Pointlessly, of course-"

"True, but thank you all the same," Melinda said quietly. "I'll be back on base soon."

"Would you, please?" Coulson spoke in his more normal tone of voice. "We need you to fly a quinjet on a PR mission...there seems to be some sort of an InHuman situation in northern Italy...we don't really have too many qualified pilots in the agency yet..."

"Sir, don't persuade me – you know that this is unnecessary," Melinda shook her head, even though Coulson could not see her. "I'll be there...Melinda out..." and she switched off.

"I got to go," she told Andrew the obvious. "But we will talk about this – about us – when I get back."

"I believe you," Andrew smiled at her, "and hey, look at that!" he pointed towards the sky, where a hawk was soaring out of all the possible birds that lived in Andrew's neighbourhood. "Don't get to see too many of them."

"No we don't," Melinda nodded, as she lowered her head onto one of Andrew's shoulders. "Thanks for taking me back, Andrew."

"Melinda-"

"But you'll need to restock the fridge. May I can help?"

Andrew smiled – very, very happily.

/

May's return to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s HQ was less warm, but Melinda herself was not the warmest person around, if truth is to be told. With Andrew around – maybe, with Skye, or rather Daisy around – an even more tenuous maybe, and as for director Phil Coulson – let us not go there...

"Let's not go where?" the aforementioned director Phil Coulson asked, even as the Cavalry looked around. "May?"

"Sorry – just thinking aloud," Melinda admitted. "Would you say that I've changed, BTW?"

"Yes," Coulson nodded. "For one thing, you talk more-"

"And is that a good thing?"

This time Coulson took his time in answering. "Melinda?" he finally came to a conclusion. "It's your choice. For as long as a person lives, they change whether they like to, or want to, or not."

"But that's just that," Melinda shook his head. "I wasn't asked; I was just given an order – to join you on the Bus, no discussion allowed."

"Did you ever think that you could've refused?"

"You don't refuse an order from Fury, not if you want to stay in S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"May," Coulson took a deep breath. "When I expected you to change, I didn't expect you to forget the fact that while S.H.I.E.L.D. gives people a lot of options, and can on occasion be hard to shake off, it never keeps anyone in its ranks unwillingly – if you wanted to get out, you would've gotten out-"

"And I talked about getting out – after those long 7 years – with Hill, just few days before I got assigned to the Bus," May confessed. "Fury, in particular, had heavily implied that if I just do this one last job, I'd be out of there in no time, and by 'there' I do mean our agency."

"Melinda, I won't detain you if you want to quit, but do you want to quit?"

"No, director, I thought long and hard about where I want to go while I hanged around my father, and I realized that I'm not going to abandon S.H.I.E.L.D., no. It's just that, with my parents around and all, maybe I can be...reassigned?"

"You should've started with this," Coulson said, actually sounding rather cross. "You did take a long route to get here."

"Sorry, but I needed to talk about it."

"How you spied on me for Fury?"

"Among other things? Yes," Melinda nodded. "And while we're having this talk, where am I flying the team?"

"It isn't the team, just Mack and Daisy – there are rumours of InHumans getting more active in Europe, so you're flying the two of them so that they can check them out."

Melinda nodded. She was also acting as back up, but that went without saying, and frankly, the Cavalry felt that she was up to the job. "All right," was what she replied instead. "And where is the location?"

Coulson told her. Melinda, again, was somewhat surprised. "This is in Italy," she elaborated further to the director. "For some reason I thought that it was going to be in Greece, or perhaps further north in the Balkans."

"Yes, well, you know what people say about assumptions," the director began but did not finish, as Daisy and Mack (as well as Lance Hunter) came aboard.

"So you _are_ flying this thing," Lance said in his trademark manner. "I admit, we are surprised – you certainly weren't around here before-"

"It happens," May shut down. "Are we ready to take off?"

"Yes you are," Coulson nodded belatedly. "I'll be taking my leave, then."

"We're sure to bring back souvenirs," Lance said brightly, even as the older man turned around and left.

And then, shortly afterwards, they were off – flying through the air, above the birds, above the clouds, in the clear bright blue sky.

/

"...We're here!" Melinda spoke several hours later, as the quinjet land on a small private airfield in Italy. "Feel free to disembark from the plane!"

"Wow, you must've really had good time last night, if you're feeling so talkative," Lance Hunter commented wryly. "We, on the other hand, had a rougher night – we had to capture an actual alien...and then we handed him over to ACTU...in exchange for footage of Grant Ward and his posse taking down Lash. You should have been there-"

"Well, maybe Lash will be here tonight, and I'll help you take him down instead," Melinda said curtly.

Lance blinked. "I'm talking about the improvised S.H.I.E.L.D.-ACTU movie night last night, actually," the Englishman elaborated. "Then again, I confess that I too would rather be with Bobbi, and just with Bobbi, last night, but, you know, duty called-" he caught May's look and wisely decided to change the topic. "Also, Lash doesn't appear to be appearing outside of the States, pardon me. So far, he seems to be quite content in staying home – or rather, going abroad, since apparently he's a native of Hong Kong instead."

"He was Scorch," Skye, or rather – Daisy, added quietly, speaking with May for the first time since the flight began. "You remember Scorch, right? Lash is him – he had just evolved, apparently."

May thought this over. "Any chance that Ward and his people are pulling Lash's strings?" she asked Daisy, ignoring the sceptical look on Lance's face. "And before you say anything, please remember that Ward's working with Raina now, and Raina was the one who got Scorch to do what he had done the first time around we met him?"

"I don't think so, and neither does Coulson, or Rosalyn Price," Daisy admitted, after thinking this over. "The ACTU got the footage, because they planned to try and trap Lash themselves, but Raina and Ward and the others interfered. Ward actually was able to take Lash down."

"And the Cavalry over here took _Ward_ down, so who knows? Maybe we should run into Lash here, so that the Cavalry can kick his ass the _S.H.I.E.L.D._ style this time," Lance said brightly.

"Aha," Daisy nodded sagely before turning back to Melinda. "My point is that I don't think this was staged – not even Ward and Raina and others could've done this without ACTU getting involved, and I don't think that ACTU was involved – they showed the feed to us in exchange for the alien that came after Jemma and DC's offer has clearly caught them flat-footed-"

"Ok," the Cavalry nodded. "Thank you for keeping me updated. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Daisy blinked, clearly surprised. "Now, uh, Mack and I will try to find any traces of the InHumans-"

"Can Hunter and I help?" May asked simply. "We're here as your back-up too, you know?"

"Considering that I don't know myself what we're supposed to be looking for – knock yourself out," Daisy admitted. "Um, sorry May?"

May just nodded and accepted the apology – and then the search began. Sadly, Daisy was not joking when she admitted that neither she nor Coulson knew exactly what or who they were supposed to be looking for specifically, plus Hunter _was_ easily distracted, actually, so somehow May found herself all by herself – but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s communication devices were working fine, so she wasn't too worried...and then she found Grant Ward, standing alongside Kara Lynn Palamas, out of all the people.

Both of them, however, did not notice Melinda, since they were busy staring down a group of armed people.

"Kaminsky," Ward was speaking. "Hauer, Rodriguez. Laventer, right? And I don't know you, sadly."

"My name's Marlee, sir," the brunette spoke in a shaky voice – clearly the duo of Ward and Palamas had made an impression on her, or possibly – on the entire Hydra group.

"Marlee, right," Ward nodded with a gravity that did not exactly fool anyone. "Duly acknowledged. Now, people, let me be magnanimous here and suggest that you get the Hell out of here, before things get ugly."

"Yes, sir – Ward, but we _are_ armed," Kaminsky spoke with a voice that did not even pretend to be confident. "And we outnumber you too-"

"Let's see," Ward said with a smile, reminiscent, say, of a jaguar before the big cat in question would lash out and grab some poor animal by the throat. "The five of you are armed with shotguns – Remington 870s, if I'm correct. Very good weapons, very good for short- to mid-level combat. Now, _I_ am armed with just a couple of Glocks, Kara Lynn got just her knives, and the Cavalry...well, she is the Cavalry. She can beat you all by herself, and you know it. Hell, she had even broken even with _me_. Kaminsky, are you feeling lucky?"

"No sir," Kaminsky visibly drooped, when he and his people saw Melinda; in fact, they were downright unhappy, if not simply scared. "We don't. But please, we got to show something to Kebo, he's one nasty character."

"Nastier than John Garrett could be?" Melinda decided to join the discussion, if she had been revealed to the other side.

"No," Kaminsky grew genuinely thoughtful at the question, "but he is working with one of the new Heads of Hydra nowadays."

"Hydra still exists?"

"Cavalry, Hydra will _always_ exist," Kara Lynn spoke bitterly, her grip tight on her knives. "You cut off one head, two more grow forth. Except, these five aren't any Head, just some low-level minions."

"Hey, we used to work for Garrett!" Kaminsky protested and fell silent, as Grant's gaze caught his own. From her point of view, Melinda could not see the big man's face properly, but she could see Kara Lynn's, and the other woman was clearly not impressed by Kaminsky's statement, but very, very furious.

"Yes you did," Ward said evenly. "This is why you get the opportunity to walk away by your own power, so to speak."

"But sir-"

"Of course, the Cavalry here got seniority," Ward smoothly interrupted his former co-worker (in a manner of speaking), "so it's her call, really."

Melinda blinked, and then gave Kaminsky (and his team) one of her better looks. It worked perfectly – all of them ran away so fast that Melinda almost suspected that they were gifted...but they probably were not.

Once they were gone, however, Melinda turned to the other two. "What was this all about?" she asked, not too gently, but not too roughly either.

"Let's see," Ward decided to go with the flow, which was a good thing – Cavalry, lately, actually _was not_ spoiling for a good fight. "Benelli, who runs the local zoo, is involved, among other things, in a black market wildlife smuggling ring. Kaminsky, Laventer and the others were to give her the shakedown in exchange for protection from Interpol."

"And why are you here?" Melinda pressed. "You're not with Hydra-"

"No, but we've been doing the occasional odd job for the Australian government lately, and so the Interpol had actually asked to investigate if the rumors were true, which they are," Kara Lynn explained. "It was done all properly, through an intermediary and all, but it was done all the same."

"Are you going to be talking to the Interpol now?" Melinda asked. S.H.I.E.L.D. never really had any conflicts with Interpol even before the fall, and May did not really want for any to start now, not on her watch.

Grant and Kara Lynn exchanged looks. "This depends," Kara finally spoke. "How are things between you and the InHumans?"

"Mack and Daisy are here too," May decided not to mention Lance – just in case. "If there are any InHumans around, they'll probably find them." She paused and probed further. "Are _your_ InHuman friends here?"

"Yes," Grant Ward said firmly. "Cavalry? Follow us – there are people you too should meet."

And Melinda complied.

/

As Melinda really should've expected, Grant and Kara Lynn had led her to an assemblage of people that consisted not just of Daisy and Mack, but also of Lincoln and Raina, as well as two more people...one of whom was signora Benelli, the woman who was the director of the zoo in question, while the other one was, well, a satyr, straight from the Greek myths, with goat-like legs and horns, reminiscent of a goat or even an antelope.

"...Look," Daisy was busy talking to them, as well as to Lincoln and Raina, who were watching her, and listening to her, quite attentively. "I understand that S.H.I.E.L.D. has a specific reputation among the InHumans and that the InHumans are in no hurry to be friends with S.H.I.E.L.D. The ACTU probably does not help things either, but we must start somewhere. We don't want anyone's soul, but we do expect the InHumans to follow laws – they _were_ written for everyone, human or otherwise."

"And if you want to change them, just wait until our people form a sizable minority for the politicians to pay attention to," Raina added, startling everyone, including Daisy. "But you must go legal – both of you. Otherwise, you will be put into the choice between S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"And Interpol, perhaps, or ACTU," Melinda finished, even as she joined the impromptu group. "S.H.I.E.L.D. _doesn't_ need your friendship – he needs you to be, well, law-abiding citizens, because otherwise? There are going to be issues." She paused and added. "Speaking of issues, how exactly are you keeping your existence quiet? Or are you a shapeshifter of some sort?"

"No, agent, Jerome here is a part of the community of...gifted that existed alongside us, the... non-gifted, for ages," the director of the zoo in question replied in a fluent, albeit accented, English. "Li Shi...it wasn't the norm for the... gifted community."

"And we're not asking you to behave as the members of Li Shi did," Daisy stood firmly. "Do you understand, or should I ask Ward over there to translate it to you into Italian?"

Signora Benelli raised an eyebrow (Melinda gave it a 4.5 points out of 10), and told Ward something in Italian. Ward nodded, and began to calmly explain something to her, also in Italian, on occasion pointing towards her InHuman companion. The latter apparently understood Italian too, and was not happy with Ward's explanation – or with Benelli. When Ward finished, he turned back to Daisy and May with a look more reminiscent of an irritated goat than of anything else.

"Fine, you made your points, agents," he took now spoke English with an accent, just not an Italian one – more of a goat one. "We will work with S.H.I.E.L.D. to resolve this situation. Now if you excuse us, the two of us must resolve our own... situation." He paused. "Oh, and we won't be raising any charges towards your...British friend and co-worker, who tried to steal, or harass, maybe, one of our antelopes. Please tell this...the security people."

...As Melinda tried to imagine Lance Hunter harassing an antelope, she almost twitched.

/

"...How was I supposed to know that that was an actual real-life antelope?" Lance Hunter stood firm. "I mean, have you seen its' muzzle? It looks like some sort of a trunk!"

"It's called a saiga antelope, Lance," Mack was wearily telling the shorter man, "and it is supposed to look like this. It's some sort of an Ice Age relic, too, I think."

"I don't care..."

As the two men bickered, Daisy looked at Melinda with a clear indication that she wanted to ask something of the other woman. "Yes?" Melinda complied (though quite willingly).

"Melinda...I mean agent May," Daisy spoke with a voice which was rather familiar... because it was not unlike Melinda's own – when she was at her worst. "Did you hear how I was handling this situation when you arrived?"

"Yes. I'm proud of you too," Melinda nodded and fell silent, as a strange, rather miserable look briefly appeared in Daisy's eyes and then vanished.

"I meant, this is how S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to act when dealing with InHumans, right?"

Melinda took her time this time, thinking over today's events. "You have other ideas?" she finally asked.

Daisy took her time too, also thinking it over. "I am loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. I do not regret joining it. I do regret, however, that you and DC never told me about the Index, or the protocols when dealing with the gifted people, or even about your history with the gifted people. I want to integrate the InHumans into S.H.I.E.L.D. society, at least to a point, but it won't be easy, as neither side wants that, do they? DC may have _plans_ about this sort of thing, but he is flexible, and now that he is working with the dragon lady, those plans may have changed...I'll need to talk to him."

"Skye..."

"It's Daisy," the younger woman snapped. "As I was saying, I'm loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm not like Ward...I'm not like Ward, period."

"Does he matter to you?"

"No!" Daisy said quickly. "He found his place in the sun, I suppose. He could've been back with Hydra, so it could've been a worse place..."

"About that," Melinda belatedly remembered and shared her own 'adventure' with Daisy, who gaped:

"Seriously? Think this is what he was talking to Benelli and Jerome about?"

"Yes. Hydra is not very good for gifted – it either uses them, or hires them: and those gifted, who work for Hydra are the worst of the bunch – of the very bad bunch. You remember Amanda Powers and the so-called agent V? They used to work for Hydra, until their former underlings tried to kill them – in a coup. They have been working with Ward and the others...because it is safer for them. But that is not the point – my point is that Hydra is recovering already."

"Yes, and they wanted Benelli, Jerome and the others," Daisy said sourly. "That's what Ward was telling them, right?"

"They didn't know about the gifted," May shook. "This was just a protection racket – yet. If the Hydra will not be scared off soon enough, it will learn, and then things will get worse – for Jerome, Benelli and the others. Can you please tell the director that too?"

"Got it," Daisy nodded, before realizing fully the entire thing. "You're leaving us?"

"No, just putting some distance between my parents and me," Melinda said firmly. "Daisy, I love S.H.I.E.L.D., I recognize this now, but I'm not sure that I can stay at the HQ _all the time_ , knowing that my parents can drop in at any time. I love them too, but sometimes they can be too much."

Daisy gave the older woman a strange look. "Must be nice," she muttered, and Melinda suddenly had something of a realization. "Skye – I mean Daisy," she said softly. "I'm sorry that we aren't the family you thought that we were-"

"That's all right, I understand that now," despite her words, Daisy's eyes were suspiciously bright, and not in an InHuman sort of way. "I just...I want to apologize, before it is too late, for my behavior in Li Shi. I should not have hit you with my powers; you were only good to me ever since CyberTek and all, and I proved to be really ungrateful-"

"I forgive you," Melinda said quietly, even as the younger woman reached out and gave her a hug – which May decided to reciprocate, however awkwardly. "Can you forgive me for _not_ being the mother that you wanted to have?"

"May," Daisy said quietly. "You're the mother that I _needed_ to have. Thank you for being there for me. And good luck to you and Dr. Garner."

"Daisy," the older woman said quietly. "For a long time I... did love Coulson. But he never did. I am not his type, you see. For a while, I thought that it would be enough for us to be just friends. But ever since the Theta protocol and the entire mess with agent Gonzales, I know now that it is not."

"So now what?" Daisy nodded, still subdued.

"I don't know," Melinda admitted, "not in the long term. But in the short term? We are back at the HQ. Let's go and get debriefed."

"Agreed."

And the two women, followed by Hunter and Mackenzie, went and got themselves debriefed – but that is another story.


	7. Chapter 7

**Because Raina (part 7)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _AN: Definitely an AU but with canon elements_

 _The Present_

Daisy Johnson, (also known as Skye and Mary Sue Poots), was feeling ambiguous – and all because of Rosalind Price. There was something in her metaphysical gut that made her distrust the older woman, no matter how much DC appeared to like her, but on the other hand...Daisy could respect her. Rosalind Price knew that Daisy and Coulson had a bond, (though it was frayed lately, admittedly), she knew that Daisy did not like her – but she did not suck up to the younger woman. That was something that Daisy did not exactly _like_ , but could appreciate, perhaps, and for one was trying to be civil. So was Rosalind, of course – Daisy had become a good agent ever since Coulson and the others got her out of her old van in that alley and she could see Rosalind watch her subtly, (though not by S.H.I.E.L.D. levels), not so much with hostility (Daisy could recognize InHuman-based hostility by now, sadly), but with something else, something that Daisy couldn't quite pin down. Regret, maybe? Daisy was not sure...and she was not sure that she wanted to confront Rosalind either – at least not now, when they were something of a joint op.

The op itself, of course, was... not simple, but basic – ATCU had discovered yet another InHuman on their hands, an individual named Simran, who seemed to have developed psychic powers of some sort. A worker in a rather shady office, (though not exactly S.H.I.E.L.D.-level shady), he seemed to also possess a noticeably obnoxious personality, and if it wasn't for the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU were trying to be nice to each other lately, the latter would've handled him on their own...but now Skye and Mack came for the ride, to provide an 'alternative' for ATCU's 'in your face' approach.

"Mr. Simran? Sir?" Daisy yelled through the door as Mack and several of Price's men were by her side and behind her. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.! Can we come in?"

There was nothing, no reply, but Daisy _almost_ heard some sort of a sound – and it did not sound very human. Considering that their – quarry or subject or whoever – had not left for work this day (in fact, he had called in sick earlier this week), this was not encouraging.

"Daisy," Mack began to voice his own doubts, but the latter tuning in into her vibration power, interrupted him – and hurriedly too:

"Kick the door now!"

Instinctively, Mackenzie complied. He was not primarily a field agent, unlike May or Morse for example, but he had plenty of strength and experience all the same – and it was not a good door either, so it fell off the hinges with just one kick, revealing...a smell. It was a strange scent – sandalwood, spices of some sort, maybe even incense, but also rot, and...ozone?

"Daisy," Mack rumbled to his partner, even as he looked around and saw...several incense burners, (elaborate too – not the sort you could buy in a store or a flea market), charts of some sort, bunches of dried plants, and... and Daisy ran into the next room, very quickly, ignoring it all. She flung open another door – and froze.

"Daisy?" Mack quickly joined the woman in the doorway – something was very wrong here, this was not some regular guy eating the wrong sort of fish pill – and stared himself. What lay on a meditation mat did look human, in a matter of speaking, if by 'human' one meant a distorted human skin, with all of the insides melted out or vaporized or something like that.

"Daisy, this isn't a normal cocoon," Mack said slowly, as he shifted his grip on the ICER. "You think our friend Lash has developed a copycat?"

"Quiet," Daisy hissed, as she was clearly concentrating with her powers, trying to sense something, some unusual vibrations coming from – "Over there!"

Mack whirled, and later he would swear that he _did not_ know what he had seen, exactly: some sort of a floating ball of light, perhaps? Either way, it was not that his memory was faulty; it was more that at this moment the roof of the house appeared to have crumpled – as if some giant hit it with their fist from the inside out – and collapsed. Daisy barely had time to physically shove them both out of a nearby window...

Dazed, Mack could only lie and watch (Daisy had landed on top of him, actually), as the home fell apart and flew upwards, in an ever widening cloud of debris. His comm.-link came to life. "Mack?" Fitz's voice came from it. "Come in!" he sounded worried, which was strange, since this was supposed to be just a basic, straightforward recovery mission-

"Mack is dazed, but he will recover," Daisy told Fitz instead. "Now-"

"Are you still in Sacramento?" Fitz interrupted her.

"Yes, but-"

"Was there a person who burst out of his skin? I mean, there may be light involved-"

"Yes, I think so. Now there's a storm coming forth-"

"I- well, Grant and Lincoln – think that it is the InHuman doing this. We have a plan – sort of – to stop him, but we need you to get to the airport, fast."

"Why?" Daisy blinked, even as she helped Mack onto his feet and move down the street away from the growing storm.

"Because we seem- may- have a way how to stop him. But you are necessary for this. Mack too, to help me with engineering-"

"Got it," Daisy nodded, and even as she and Mack altered the course of their retreat (temporary, of course), she called Rosalind Price.

To her surprise, the older woman did not sound hostile or blaming, but rather professional (though still startled). "You sure you know how to handle him?" she asked Daisy, even as the new storm continued to grow from bad to worse.

"Yes," Daisy lied, grateful that Rosalind _could not_ see her face (it was not _that_ sort of a comm.-link). "Now, um, you and DC should prepare plans for evacuation-"

"On it," Price said in a quite professional voice and switched off.

Daisy blinked, suppressed the feeling that she had lost the control of the situation on more than just the obvious level, and moved to rendezvous with Fitz.

/

 _The Past (several hours earlier)_

Both Grant and Kara Lynn were ex-field agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As such, both were light sleepers, especially given their experiences in the past. Still, time (and age, perhaps) did tell, and lately they grew more comfortable sleeping...just sleeping, period, and not taking turns. Regardless, when Raina shrieked (more gurgled than loud) and woke up, the two of them were over at hers and Lincoln's side in minutes.

"Vision?" Ward asked, even as Kara Lynn helped Raina to recover.

"Yes," Raina gasped, her eyes even bigger than normally. "A man, coming out of his skin, becoming light, becoming storm. S.H.I.E.L.D., Sacramento, California – gone! Daisy and the others gone! Their stories – gone!"

"Ward, sir, agent Ward – this sounds like an UnBodied; no, this _is_ an UnBodied," Lincoln carefully tugged at the bigger man. "Can, uh, director Coulson and Daisy handle one of them?"

"Isn't our landlady one of them too?" Kara Lynn was the only one who was not impressed. "Grant says that he can handle her-"

"And she can handle me," Grant shook his head, "and even on a good day the face-off would be too close for comfort, and others would get hurt. This is why she and I are polite around each other and all. The gifted in Raina's vision? Something else. S.H.I.E.L.D. _can_ handle the UnBodied, but _not_ if they're caught flat-footed." He reached towards the phone, paused, took a breath and reached for it anyways.

"Please, Ms. Palamas," Raina said quietly, in an absolutely miserable voice. "Believe me. This is serious, this is very bad-"

"All right," the older woman replied and took the phone first. "I'll call." And true to her word, she dialled a number.

"Yes?" Leo Fitz picked up the phone.

"Agent Fitz?" Kara Lynn spoke evenly. "Can I speak to agent May?"

"She and the others have left for Sacramento," Fitz's voice was also even. "Sorry that you missed her-"

"How's the weather there? It's important!"

This time, there was a pause. "What is going on down there?" Fitz asked straightforwardly. "There are rumors of a gifted in the city-"

"There is. He is very powerful. If we bring you down there, can you build an energy disruptor that is needed to take him down?"

"Interesting." Judging by Leo's voice he was genuinely intrigued. "Can you give me more specific details?"

"Agent Johnson," Kara Lynn said with a grimace, (that Fitz could not see, because they weren't on Skype), "will be the one firing the disruptor – it'll be utilizing her own energy-"

"I see," Leo nodded. "Pick us up ASAP – Jemma's coming too. This sounds like something that we must do together-"

"On it," Kara Lynn nodded, (even though Fitz could not see her). "Where do we pick you two up?"

The engineer told her.

/

 _The Present_

When Daisy arrived at the airfield, she was surprised to see that Fitz was there not only with Jemma, (for, ever since her return back to Earth, Jemma did not really go into the field anymore), but with Ward and the rest of his team.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the man tersely. "You aren't a part of this anymore!"

"Not now, Daisy," Fitz replied instead, as he gave her one of the FitzSimmons' contraptions. "Take a look with this!"

Confused, Daisy did.

"Not at _us_ – at the _storm_ ," Fitz realized that he had to elaborate.

"Oh. This makes more sense," Daisy admitted and looked at the storm. "I see it! I see it – the original sphere of light or whatever. Wait, is it building the storm? 'Cause it looks like-"

"Yes he does," Lincoln spoke up instead of the engineers. "Daisy, this is what your mother called an UnBodied – a person who left their humanity behind and became an entity of pure energy. You must stop this."

"How?" Daisy blinked, and was directed to a contraption, which, in her opinion, resembled a crazy version of an anti-aircraft gun.

"With this!" Fitz said grandly. "This is an energy disruptor of sorts!"

"And I use it how?" Daisy sceptically asked. She _had_ combat training, true, but this was something new.

"Well, we first have to calibrate it and your powers," Fitz admitted. "That's the tricky part-"

"Wait, you want me to use my powers on this?"

"No, you're going to channel your powers through this, shutting down the enemy," Fitz patiently explained.

"How do you know that this will work? And how can you calibrate anything related to me in field conditions?"

"Daisy," Lincoln spoke up once more. "Use your powers on _me_. Gently though, okay? Don't knock me off the feet"

"Right," Daisy remembered some of the new tricks that she had learned ever since the deaths of Jiaying and the others. She used one of them on Lincoln. The result was immediate – Lincoln vomited and almost collapsed, if Grant had not caught him.

"Did you get it?" he turned to Simmons who was standing there with some gauging device.

"No," Jemma cringed. "She needs to do it one more time."

Grant opened his mouth. "Let's do this – _one more time_ ," Lincoln said instead. "But this time? Someone help Dr. Simmons."

"Lincoln," Daisy opened her mouth to decline, when she realized something else. I'm not killing you, am I?"

"No, I can take another shot," Lincoln grunted. "People? Please!"

"All right," Daisy took a deep breath and half-hit half-zapped Lincoln again. This time, Jemma was able to gauge it, possibly because Raina, who had been in the background before now, helped her. All the same, this time the FitzSimmons got the data and were able to upload it into their latest contraption nevertheless.

"Daisy, it's your shot now," Fitz spoke quickly, even as lightning bolts began to pepper Sacramento in a bad way. "You fire it."

"I know," Daisy said miserably, even as she took aim. "This is like the whole Donnie Gill incident - **again**. I was supposed to be a leader. I'm just killing them instead."

"So what?" Grant moved forwards. (Lincoln had recovered and no longer needed to be supported.) "You're a leader, yes, but you're also a soldier; S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't purely an army, and this isn't a civil war, but neither is it civil peace, and you must do a hard decision – just as Coulson did with Dr. Hall, remember? We still do not know exactly what he had done – but he had saved the entire island of Malta. Now – it is your turn."

" _You_ need to work on your pep talks," Daisy said sourly, but no longer sounding upset, before turning around, and, well, taking the shot, running purely on annoyance – the time of when Grant Ward was her SO and told her what to do and how to think were done and gone, thank you very much!

...It's only some time later, when she felt like Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders, she realized that she was actually doing it, and what's more – struggling with it. She felt like a knife, or a corkscrew, which was trying to run through a rock-hard piece of butter, and failing. The knife blade, Daisy's self, was bending into a loop, and was not going to bend far enough or quickly enough – it was going to break instead, it was going to die, all alone, useless...

"You're not alone." Suddenly Daisy became aware of Lincoln on her right, holding her by the arm. Abruptly, she realized that Grant was on her left, supporting her from the back. "You got others with you. Your enemy – he's the one who's alone."

It was not the best of pep talks either, but suddenly something just clicked inside Daisy, some inner warmth, some inner reserve of strength, that she did not know that she had. The knife straightened out, becoming sleek and strong and sharp.

The knife went completely through the butter.

The storm exploded.

/

...When Melinda came back to check on Mack, Daisy and the others, she was met with a rather homey sight, (by S.H.I.E.L.D. standards): Fitz and Mack were busy dismantling some sort of a FitzSimmons contraption, while Jemma was nearby, going over some notes of her own. For some reason, Melinda's heart went all tingly, until she realized what exactly was wrong with this picture. "Where's Daisy?" she asked. "And the others?"

"Daisy is inside, sleeping. Ward and Campbell too are inside – they are also exhausted, but not as much as Daisy, who fell asleep almost immediately after saving us from the sentient storm," the younger woman clarified. "The rest of Ward's people are out there, helping with damage control and recovery, at least until FEMA gets here."

"I see," Melinda nodded neutrally. "Thank you. ...How are you doing, back in the field, yourself?"

"I'm less fragile than you think," Jemma was surprised by Melinda's question, though not in a good way. "Though yes, compared to you..."

"I didn't mean to belittle you," Melinda was honestly surprised. "If you want, you can come with me inside – I want to confront Ward, you can watch my back."

Jemma blinked. "You really _are_ trying to be more human, ever since the Italy mission," she spoke, surprised.

"Some time before this, ever since my parents got back together actually," May admitted. "Well?"

"Fine, I can live with that," Jemma nodded primly, (with a slight twinkle in the eye that belied her primness), and followed the older woman into the plane.

Inside, it was twilit with the windows being half-closed. Lincoln and Grant half-sat, half-sprawled across a couple of seats, clearly exhausted enough not to be dangerous to anyone, especially the Cavalry. Daisy was a couple of seats back, lying on an impromptu bunk and clearly asleep. She was also snoring, in a way that could be considered either cute or loud, depending on one's opinion.

"Ward," Melinda sat across the bigger man. "Thank you. Why?"

"Because I like the world with S.H.I.E.L.D. in it better than otherwise," her former teammate shrugged. "Plus if the UnBodied hadn't been stopped, he would've probably destroyed a large chunk of the States before the Avengers could stop him – according to the latest news, they're currently in Latveria – there're some issues with Dr. Doom."

"Yes, he's been rooting Hydra out of his country...and using Asgardian technology to do so," Jemma piped up. "The man might be a xenophobic snob, but his knowledge of robotics is right there with Stark's, so Asgardian technology and Doom are a no-no, not unless we want another Sokovia on our hands."

"Thank you, Jemma," Grant spoke with a slight sign of bemusement on his face. "And, Cavalry-"

"Please call me agent May or just May," Melinda said quietly. "Lately I've been thinking where the Cavalry was taking me, and I don't like where I am going with her. Jemma, that goes for you too."

"Alright, agent May," Grant nodded once more. "Did I answer your question?"

"Perhaps," May nodded. "What about Palamas' daughter?"

"You'll have to talk to her first," came the firm reply. "After all, this is her daughter, first and foremost."

"What's she like?" Jemma piped up again: she had heard about Kara Lynn's daughter (safely hidden in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s kindergarten/beginners' school – let us call it thus) by now, but nothing specific.

"Very intelligent and vivacious," Grant actually smiled, however slightly. "Perhaps by the time she's your age," he nodded towards Simmons, she'll be the next you – the next S.H.I.E.L.D. genius."

"Genius is overrated," Jemma spoke, surprising herself – she did not mean to admit it. "Before me and Fitz there had been Djeeta, and after her, I don't remember the name-"

"Your point?" Melinda had a feeling that the younger woman was dominating the talk.

"Oh, it's just that genius in S.H.I.E.L.D. is misjudged or something," Jemma confessed. "There was one in the Academy during every graduation – I and Fitz were going to be one, or two, of such too, but Fitz decided that he needed some field experience first and roped me into it, and this is where we met you..." she took a breath and added: "and you know, it's not that the pod was supposed to float, it's that we weren't supposed to be on it in the first place."

"Or all three of us should've been," Grant nodded, noticeably dimming. "I know, I have figured out – much too late. I'm sorry for not being the man you thought that I was, you know?"

"But you could've been," Jemma shook her head, before realizing something else. "Or maybe you _are_ , now, yes?"

Melinda shot Jemma a look that was half-annoyed and half-confused. "Ward and ex-agent Palamas and the others came to us first," Jemma began to explain quickly. "If they didn't...well, we would've figured it all out, eventually, but we wouldn't have been able to resolve it all so, so, in such a timely fashion!" she finished brightly.

Melinda turned back to Grant. "Really?" she asked. She and Coulson and the others assumed that the initiative came from the FitzSimmons instead.

"Well, Palamas wanted to talk to you first, actually," Jemma smiled in a slightly submissive style. "Anyways-"

"Anyways, how are Coulson and the ACTU lady?" Grant spoke up suddenly, startling the two women. "They didn't get caught in the debris and the lightning and all?"

"No," May pursued her lips. Seeing Coulson with Price...it was strange. The two just clicked – not perfectly, but well enough; seeing them in management of action was...actually impressive.

To make things even more...confusing, the looks that the other woman had been giving May had been...odd. The woman was not trying to challenge Melinda; rather, she looked intimidated herself, and even in best of times Melinda did not like to intimidate people unnecessarily, and right now she liked to do so even less. "Why are you asking?" she asked Grant instead.

"Lincoln and Raina want to give the woman in question a sales pitch," Grant turned to the younger man. "Want to tell agent May about it?"

"We found a way to negate the more obvious effects of the pills," Lincoln picked up the cue.

"You found a cure?" Jemma stared.

"Not exactly," Lincoln confessed. "Grant and Ms. Palamas are correct – the changes of people like me or Raina from people like you begin at the DNA level, unless one can purge the DNA, it cannot be cured. Believe me, we've experimented some." He paused and added. "You don't have an invention like this, do you?"

"To purge one's DNA? Of course we have – and the blueprints too," Jemma's reply was equally nonchalant. "But the machine is bulky, unwieldy, a single person takes weeks, even months, and it consumes energy like a horse, to use the old cliché. To use it continuously on multiple people? Very impractical – not even Stark would afford it for long."

"Fair enough," Lincoln remained unshaken. "But what Raina and I have created will render back overt the changes, returning people back to normal. It is not cheap to make either, but we think that ATCU can afford it. So can S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps, if you're interested."

"Yes we are," Jemma said firmly. "When and where do you want to talk business?"

"Shouldn't the ACTU lady be involved in the talks as well?" Grant spoke for the first time since Lincoln began to explain the properties of the pills. "I mean, the pitch is made primarily for _her_."

"What is made primarily for me?" the woman in question, Rosalind Price, appeared on the scene, alongside Coulson, Mack and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Palamas, Raina, and the rest of Grant's team were there as well.

"You want to explain it this time, Raina?" Lincoln gave the woman a look. (It should be noted, probably, that the moment she was wearing the mask, which made her look normal. It did mean that Kara Lynn's scar was evident, but frankly, after the events of today, no one really cared.)

Raina shrugged and explained to the others what Lincoln had already explained to Jemma and May. "I see," Price's face was carefully neutral, "and you're offering it to ATCU because?"

"Because you're the control unit, and we're offering you a means of control," Raina said simply. "S.H.I.E.L.D. was effective because it offered options. I am not the biggest fan of the organization-"

"Yet you wear their lanyard-"

"Oh, I was once a student in their Academy. Then I became a part of the 3.63% that just burn out and leave," Raina shrugged easily. "I kept some of my things back from that time. They do come in handy on occasion..."

"...And now we know where Garrett had found you," Coulson spoke after a pause. "Lord, but we've been fighting ourselves even before-"

"Wrong!" Raina's grin contained no mirth. "Garrett found me at Cal's."

"Zabo knew that John was Hydra?" Coulson looked.

"Yes. Garrett did not even deny it. The only thing that he lied about was his Clairvoyant persona – we honestly thought that it was either a separate person or that John himself was, well, gifted. This is why Cal had me help him. That, the fact that he too was interested in what made director Coulson tick, and wanted me to search more – actively for his daughter, of course."

"Zabo knew about Hydra and didn't care?" Coulson repeated quietly.

"We – well, the people of Li Shi, probably the other communities – knew about it," Lincoln collaborated. "Ask Grant over here, he knows more from your end."

"No I don't," Grant shook his head. "I know that the InHumans form a series of communities around the world. Some interact with ordinary people, some do not. Some gifted people were agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., others were of Hydra, but they all tended to downplay their abilities. They knew that Hydra was around, but did not really like S.H.I.E.L.D. enough to care. They still do not. Like you, that is."

"Is this why you're selling your product to ATCU?" Melinda asked quietly.

"No," Lincoln shook his head. "We told you why we're selling it to them – but we also can sell it to you." He paused. "Technically, we're selling you the production rights, which is different. And also, neither Raina nor I, nor Alisha nor the others are part of the InHuman community anymore. After what Jiaying did, the survivors of Li Shi, myself and Raina included, are something of pariahs of the InHuman community. Agent May, director Coulson, we're not Jonestown, believe us!"

"We believe you," Melinda said quietly: the pain on Campbell's face was just too raw to be faked. "Shall we talk time and place?"

"The place," Grant quickly gave the coordinates, "is a small island in the Ionian Sea – neutral ground, you know. The time is yours?"

Rosalind Price (who had been busy thinking something of her own meanwhile), nodded and gave Grant the time.

"Acceptable," Ward nodded, after discussing it with Kara Lynn in Spanish.

There was pause. "This is _our_ plane," Grant said diplomatically. "So do we need to give any of you a ride back to the HQ?"

"I remember that," Coulson snapped. "We just need to take Daisy and we'll go."

"Be careful," Lincoln said quietly. "She's exhausted, but mentally, rather than physically, because of her powers. She may sleep for days, and once she wakes up, she still must rest for several days, be fed protein-rich meals and _not_ use her powers – otherwise the results will be very bad, including a stroke."

"Got it, thank you for advice," Jemma nodded solemnly, quickly writing down Campbell's advice, even as Mack gently picked up their friend – and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, alongside Rosalind Price, left the company of Grant Ward and the others.

 _TBC_


	8. Chapter 8

**Because Raina (part 8)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _AN: Spoiler alert._

The sky was overcast, though not completely so – in various parts of the sky, the cloud cover was more transparent, than it was in the others.

"You think this is a good idea, leaving Daisy behind like that?" Mack rumbled to Coulson, even as the latter, alongside the FitzSimmons and Rosalind Price came down from the plane.

"Daisy still hadn't fully recovered, and may not recover for another few days still," Coulson replied in his traditional, even tone of voice. "Plus, this isn't exactly the area of InHuman/human interactions that she is comfortable with, so I'm not sure that if she'd been here, it would've been more good than bad. Plus, May, and Andrew, and others are with her back at HQ, so she is not unprotected either."

Mack nodded. So far, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interactions with Ward, Raina and the others were positive, or at least – neutral in regards to each other. This did not dismiss the possibility of them falling apart, but S.H.I.E.L.D. _was_ about taking risks, after all, especially calculated ones, so hopefully they will be able to take Ward and co. out if the negotiations failed.

...And if they did not, then Mack, for one, had no idea as to what would happen next. His approach towards the InHumans _had_ changed since his service at agent Gonzales', true, but he still was not sure in what direction; and after Sacramento, he was even less certain about his feelings towards them. Daisy was Daisy, fair enough – an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a friend; the others, starting with Lincoln and Raina? Another story altogether.

"Oh good, you're here," the aforementioned Raina said brightly, even as she and Lincoln joined the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (and Rosalind Price). "We were worried that you might change your mind."

"And miss out on buying your miracle cure?" the head of ATCU said wryly. "No thanks."

"It's not a _miracle_ cure," Raina replied, quietly. "But it may be the next best thing until _your_ people come up with one, you know?"

There was a pause, not so much uncomfortable, as awkward. "Fair enough," Rosalind not quite apologized. "Shall we come inside or what?"

"This _is_ one of the bigger wild bird reserves in the Mediterranean," Raina admitted (who was actually dressed rather smartly, for once). "This makes our chances of being pooped upon quite high. We're going inside."

And so they went.

/

Inside the apparently rented and/or pre-prepared space were several chairs and tables, several bottles (containing a liquid rather than pills), a couple of cups, and a container with fish pills. Two of the chairs were already occupied.

"Where's Alisha, Ms. Palamas?" Raina carefully inquired from the other woman.

"She ditched us," Grant Ward answered instead. "Dr. Powers has a family emergency. We wanted to come, but Alisha put a switch upon us with one of her clones-"

"This isn't good-"

"Excuse me," Coulson interjected smoothly. "What are we missing?"

"Nothing," Grant looked at the older man in surprise. "This is why Hunter and Morse aren't here, right? 'Cause of Hydra?"

"True, but Hydra is hard to pin down, even for us," Coulson did not bother to deny the obvious. "Can you be more specific, here?"

"Dr. Powers – Dr. _Amanda_ Powers used to be involved in Hydra – in a Hydra cell – for her own reasons. Now that Hydra is putting itself together again, there are plenty of powers struggles within it. During one of those power struggles, Dr. Powers got her throat cut and left to die. Fortunately, agent V – and no, he isn't exactly an agent of anything, he just likes to be called that – run into me and the others, while we were recovering from an earlier run-in with Lash," Grant shrugged. "Between the four of us, we were able to save her life. The catch? Her old job had been taken over by her sister, Dr. Stevie Powers, who is currently involved with the Powers' family legend, the sort that IWC takes interest in?"

"IWC?" Jemma frowned. "This sounds familiar."

"International Watchers' Council," Grant emphasized. "I'm surprised that they hadn't offered you a job-"

"'Cause I'm British?" Jemma said acidly, before admitting. "Actually, they did offer me a place – but I'm happier in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You are?" Leo spoke up, sounding incredulous for some reason.

"Leo, not now-"

"Yeah, Hunter and Morse aren't involved in anything that can be considered IWC-related," Mack spoke thoughtfully. "Can I speak to you two in private?"

Grant and Kara Lynn exchanged looks with each other, then gave a younger couple a look of their own, and walked off.

"Aren't you worried being on your own?" Coulson said dryly – he never liked Raina very much, and the jury was still out on Lincoln.

"No, not really, director," Raina said cheerfully. "Remember, this is Grant Ward we're talking about. You do something to us, and he will do something much worse to you – and we all know it. Most people got the whole fight-or-flight complex. With bi-Grant Ward," she coughed and caught herself, "it's more of a submit-or-kill thing, and since he combines the precision and speed of a tiger with the strength and protectiveness of a bear, not even you want to piss him off, not without a good reason, and that sort of thing excludes Lincoln and me."

Coulson gave him the green woman a look. Raina looked back with her golden eyes. "Can we get back to business, please?" Jemma said quietly.

"Certainly," Lincoln firmly took Raina by one of her arms and led her back to the table. "Now, as we know, your Index features gifted in three broad categories – the overt, the covert and the moderate. In reality, this division is superficial, as it is centered on the obvious, secondary changes, which are skin-deep, so to speak, and are just symptoms of the greater changes inside. That isn't to say that they aren't important, but-"

"But we have developed a potion, or whatever you want to call it, which can handle them, those secondary changes," Raina spoke up, even as picked up one of the bottles with the liquid. "See?" she drank from the bottle in question...and shifted...into her old, pre-Puerto Rico self, with brown, rather than green, skin, and eyes that were dark rather than gold. The only difference was her current lack of hair on her head. "It works."

There was a pause, and then the FitzSimmons decisively walked over to her, and began to examine her in detail.

"Well," Coulson spoke up, curious himself, but keeping attention on their surroundings too. "Is this for real?"

"It is," Jemma confessed, even as Leo almost touched Raina in a not very appropriate way, and got slapped for his troubles. (Lincoln was staring at this scene all this time, as Raina's old appearance caught him unawares, it seemed.) "She's back to normal."

"Not really, no," Raina shook her head, as she picked up a fish pill and swallowed it. Immediately, she formed a cocoon, which quickly fell apart, revealing Raina as she was _after_ Puerto Rico – green skin, frond-like hair and all. "The changes are only temporary and the first time you come back into contact with the contaminated sea food, they go away."

"Raina and I cannot figure out how to make them permanent or even if they _can_ be permanent," Lincoln finally speaks once more, finally looking away from his partner. "Plus, manufacturing this in mass isn't easy or simple, not unless you got the personal fortune of Tony Stark, so we believe that handing over the manufacturing rights to you is the right thing to do, pardon the pun."

"I see," Rosalind Price joined the FitzSimmons in examining Raina's new old look. "Why talk to me?"

"You're the control unit," Raina shrugged, "with the emphasis on control. This sort of thing can be either the carrot or the stick, depending on how you are using it and on whom. Plus, Lincoln got family back in the States – it would be nice for him to visit them every once in a while without any legal hustle."

"Don't you have any family?"

"Never knew my father, barely knew my mother, was raised by grandma until she was 6 and then she died. Leaving me financially safe and secure, but with guardians rather than anyone else, and they weren't really family, nor I was to them," Raina shrugged. "Eventually I went to reconnect my roots, found Cal Zabo, stayed with him instead, and then – Cybertek. Director Coulson can fill you in on what happened next."

"I see," Rosalind Price nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not as good at reading people as Phil is, nor am I the sort of person to have super-powerful people as Johnson and super-dangerous ones as Ward to follow my lead, but I cannot help but feel that you came from a mixed racial background?"

"You're correct," Raina's smile has no humour or warmth behind it. "My mother was African, my father and grandma were not. Does it matter?"

"Less and more than you might think," Rosalind did not press the matter any further. "Aren't your friends taking their time?"

"Oh, I saw them flying off with Mackenzie a while earlier – either Hunter and Morse have found something big or it isn't anything related to theirs," Raina shrugged. "Anyways, while they aren't back yet, shall we do the paperwork? Director Coulson, you want in on the sale?"

"Yes," Coulson gave Raina a look of his own. "One question, though – why are you in on this? Lincoln – he has views on the whole InHuman thing that he made known a while back. You?"

"We managed to come to an understanding on this issue," Lincoln replied instead. "The point is, the metamorphosis at Li Shi was voluntary – if a person didn't want to go through the change they didn't, potential or not. If an unprepared person got transformed, it would be bad. If an unwilling person did, it was just as bad. Now we got people all over the world transforming themselves just because they all ate the wrong thing – this is not right. They need to have options themselves – and if you get a person who went for the wrong option, you need leverage of some sort, do you not?"

"Well, we are currently putting affected people into stasis pods while we're finding a cure...but yes, ACTU _is_ buying the manufacturing rights to your product," Rosalind had clearly reached a decision. "It's always good to have several options at your fingertips. I am sure that Mr. Malick will agree – Phil, why are you looking like this? Are you jealous?"

"No," Coulson said quickly, causing few eyebrows to go up, "it's just that we're not talking about Gideon Malick here, are we? I heard of that man, he was in WSC-"

"Yes, that's the man," Rosalind spoke up, when she was interrupted by Raina:

"Before you two continue to bond, can we please do the paperwork first?" And she thrust the paperwork in question towards them. Instinctively, the older couple signed them. (This would later on prove to be a mistake, as Raina may have acted all nice and friendly in person, but she still created some very impressive and binding legal paperwork.)

/

 _Meanwhile..._

Daisy (or Skye, depending on who was talking to her), finally woke up. "How long was I asleep?" she asked rhetorically, but got answered anyways:

"For about 6 days in a row," Melinda May spoke up. "How are you feeling?"

Daisy blinked and thought over her answer, or rather – her response, long and hard. "I don't remember anything," she said simply. "In fact, my actions at Sacramento? They are somewhat blurry. I remember winning over the UnBodied, but after this? It is all a blur. A blurry one, too."

"You just slept, like a log, on and off for 6 days," Melinda replied in a carefully controlled voice. "Sometimes you got up, ate, relieved yourself and went back to sleep. It was as if lights were on, but no one was home, save that there were no lights in your eyes – they were rather flat and emotionless-"

"I know. My brain felt as if it was made of lead," Daisy nodded. There was no complaining in her reply, just the statement of the obvious, but Melinda found that she did not like how this sounded for some reason. Perhaps because it had reminded her too much of herself? Does not matter, so she tries to change the topic – sort of, because she is not exactly good at subtle conversation, no.

"We – mostly the FitzSimmons – kept in touch with Lincoln and Raina," she continued. "Apparently, you had been drawn in into a battle of wills, back in Sacramento, of mental energy - whatever this means."

"I heard Grant and Lincoln talking, some, back in Sacramento," Daisy interrupted, looking rather unhappy. "Apparently, my powers come from my brain – I got a differently-shaped brain or something, ever since Puerto Rico."

Melinda blinked and took a good professional look at the younger woman. "Your head isn't shaped differently," she finally reached a professional conclusion. "Really, it isn't."

"Yes, well, tell it to Jemma," Daisy muttered with a distinct undertone of bitterness. "I've seen how she looks at me, from the corner of her eye. Trust me; you do not look at friends like this. Ever since she got back from space, she got better at hiding her feelings for me, but..."

"Nonsense, she's your friend-"

"I'm going to call her out on it, once I get back into shape, more or less," Daisy continued. "Where is she, anyways?"

May, grateful for the change in topic, explained about the bargain between S.H.I.E.L.D., ATCU and Lincoln and Raina.

"So they're currently out and about?" Daisy continued to channel, well, the Cavalry in regards to keeping the emotions in check. "Fair enough." She paused. "May, are you ok?"

"...Why do you ask?"

"Because you've been acting differently ever since you and I fought back in Li Shi," Daisy confessed.

"You already apologized for that-"

"No, not that – I remember doing that, it's just that...are you leaving S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Daisy looked straight at the older woman. "Make no mistake, Andrew is a great guy and your parents aren't bad either, and you already did a lot for S.H.I.E.L.D., but you _will_ be missed, you know that?"

May took a deep breath and tackled this decisively _not_ as the Cavalry. "Skye, you want me to stay?" she asked a question that was, perhaps, pointless, but still needed to be answered.

"Yes," Daisy now did have a look on her face – a scared one. "I _know_ that everyone got to go at some time or another and no relationship is forever, but maybe...we can work something out? Maybe...you can work here part-time still?"

"...Who told you that? That no relationship is forever? Victoria Hand?" Melinda could not keep the anger out of her voice. "Because this is a lie."

"Not if you live in an orphanage," Daisy replied, and Melinda had an-Andrew-like epiphany. Of course – first the orphanage, where people came and went on a regular basis, and then the life in a van, where Daisy/Skye could be as free as the wind, (from any commitments too), and...just as lonely.

"Oh, Skye," she exhaled and gave the younger woman a hug across the shoulders. It was stiff and awkward, but it was genuine, and Daisy did not resist it, as she leaned into Melinda's embrace.

"It's Daisy," the younger woman sniffed, "but I guess you can call me Skye. Half the people still do, after all, and even those that don't, still do, from time to time."

"Oh, Daisy. I am not leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. I am just – re-arranging my life, re-including my parents and Andrew in it-"

"Yes, but aren't you, well, divorced?" Daisy asked – very shyly, especially by her standards. "Isn't divorce supposed to be forever?"

"...Can't you ask me something simpler? Like from where do babies come from?"

"Melinda?" Daisy, apparently, had remembered that the older woman likes to be called the Cavalry even less so lately than how she did before, "you're not pregnant, are you?"

"What? No! I'm, we're," Melinda began to say that she and Andrew used protection, when she realized that she was not so sure about that, especially not recently. "We're not," she finished, rather lamely.

"Ok," Daisy decided not to push the topic, fortunately. (Melinda decided to talk about this with Andrew in private.) "Why don't I go and take a shower, now, and after this, we'll talk about something else? Or maybe – I will do some light exercises and you can tell me where I need to catch up? 'Cause you're my SO or were one-"

"Or how about you go and meet your Caterpillars?"

"I already know Joey and the Cuban guy-"

"Now, there's Yo-Yo as well."

"Say who?"

/

 _Meanwhile..._

"Sir, here's your list!"

The man known as Gideon Malick to the world just grimaced, as his subordinate (in this particular case known to the world as Kebo) provided him with the list – just as he was ordered to. Malick knew, that he should not complain, Kebo was one of the more competent ones, but frankly? This was not saying much.

Throughout most of his life, Gideon Malick had dedicated himself, as well as his subordinates, to one goal: to create an alien-human hybrid army so that when Hydra's alien overlord arrives on Earth, Hydra will be prepared and ready to serve them (in exchange for a piece of Earth, of course). So far, despite the occasional setback (the elder von Strucker dying from some evil robot of all things, List still being at large, etc), his plan was progressing, but slowly, as he simply lacked the tools to go _faster_. His men were competent, largely, but nothing else, which meant that he simply could not go faster, or else there would be mistakes, something that he – and Hydra – could not afford to make, not now, not with S.H.I.E.L.D. still holding onto the Monolith, and who knows what else.

Of course, he had the ATCU, but his hold on it was more tenuous than he would have liked – again. Price was an old fox of the Byzantine school in her own right, and held no love for Hydra, plus the whole concept of selling the Earth out to an alien overlord? Not everyone's cup of tea, admittedly, so the odds are that Price will sell him out, instead, if things do not go according to plan.

And then, of course, there are the rumors of desertion, something that had been in Hydra always, of course. With Hydra being on the down end of things, however, ever since Pierce's attempt had failed, this is not good. "Find out if there are any deserters, and if there are – make them a lesson," he told Kebo.

"Well, I know that some of them are currently re-assigned, **cough** , to von Strucker – the other, younger von Strucker," the bald man shrugged. "That's still us, Hydra, right?"

...And then there was that piece of Eurotrash that Malick could not make time to be taken out – at least his father had been _somewhat_ competent. Werner himself, however... "Keep an eye on them all the same – and Werner too – and make a report to me every week. If it looks like Werner is planning to do something else other than his usual drinking and whoring? He might need to be eliminated."

"Yes sir!" Kebo said happily (he did love to cross people off, after all) and left.

"That's it," Malick muttered crossly to himself. "Eurotrash and more-or-less competent thugs. This is what Whitehall had diminished Hydra too. If he's ever resurrected, I'll kill him myself!"

/

 _Meanwhile..._

"Yo-Yo Rodriguez?" Daisy asked, as she entered the training room of the gifted...would have agents. Sure enough, there was a new face alongside Joey and the other guy (what was his name, seriously?). "I'm Daisy Johnson. If things go right, I will be your SO slash field commander."

"Hello agent Johnson!" In a blink of an eye Yo-Yo had covered the distance across the gym, between the other trainees and Daisy and May. "Nice to meet you! Have you recovered from Sacramento?"

"Largely – yes," Daisy decides _not_ to lie here: super-speed or not, she can take the other woman, though if she will not have to, it will be all for the better. "Today we'll be doing light gymnastics, mostly, and some ordinary, non-power-related training." The others, not counting May, nod. "The power training will come in later, maybe when the weather improves?"

The others all look outside – the cloud cover of today's morning had evolved into some heavy rain – even seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tended not to be outside unless it was necessary, and right now? All three of Daisy's students were not that – not yet. "So let's start with light gymnastics," Daisy reiterates, "and then we'll go with the more heavy training, ok?"

There are more nods. "And Yo-Yo? May told me that you were with Hydra before-"

"And I told her, that we're done. Running into her _and_ Ward was the last straw for us. We know what happened to people who really pissed the big guy off – they never got back up. And the Cavalry? She's the same thing, just with style."

"I'm right here, you know?" May said, not sounding very happy.

"Yes you are, and that is enough for me. I will behave, even if I did not want to behave, which I do-"

"Yo-Yo, wait," Daisy had no intention of going for the stick here. "Let's start from the top. Why did you decide to go back to us?"

"We saw what you people did in Sacramento, and decided that this is better, at least for some of us," Yo-Yo shrugged, looking wary now. "I mean, yes, my old man is still in Hydra, going around as the Griffin – your SO has apparently heard of him – but he and I were never close, and on a bad day he was as bad as John Garrett, maybe even worse, 'cause with Garrett, you could count on Ward to run interference."

"Excuse me?"

"Usually in Hydra? It's always better if your SO designates someone else to be their chew toy instead of you. Ward would rather be the chew toy instead of someone else. Farber – you never met him – once implied that Ward was soft, submissive, and generally speaking – Garrett's bitch. Ward hit him. This is why you never met Farber, you know?" Yo-Yo shrugged. "No one of us wants to be on his bad side, on the Cavalry's bad side, or on yours – not after you saved the city, especially."

"It was a team effort-"

"Yeah, and given a choice between that and my old man, even on his good day, I decided to go zig here," Yo-Yo shrugs. "Plus, I have worked with the bloke on my right before-"

"He told me that he worked for the Cuban government-"

"He did, or maybe he does. Hydra – or at least John Garrett – had worked with the Cuban government on occasion."

"Oh," Daisy blinked. Somehow the idea that a country might be working with Hydra of its own volition is not a good one for her. "Got it. Well, look. As I told your new friends before, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not Hydra; it is based on voluntary trust and commitment, so if you're up to it, welcome aboard, and if you're not, then, yeah, you won't make it here, so maybe we should put you into witness protection program regarding your family situation-"

"I'm in," Yo-Yo shakes her head. "Ok?"

"Then welcome aboard," Daisy nodded to the other woman. "It's up to you to like it here, though. Let us start with the light gymnastics-"

"Yes, I remember," Yo-Yo pointed out, before zooming back to the other end of the gym and joining the other two with the gymnastics.

Melinda looked at Daisy; "What?" the younger woman shrugged, somewhat defensively. "Melinda, DC is a great guy, but he tends to sugar-coat things a bit; even before the whole Hydra apprising thing...I mean, the uprising thing, there had been some surprises for me in S.H.I.E.L.D. and not of the good kind. I am not sure if I like her, but I do not want to trick her. We are S.H.I.E.L.D. We do not trick people just because."

Melinda thought this over. "Coulson wouldn't agree with you – that we trick people just because. Me, on the other hand? I see where you are going. I don't have a problem with it."

"But?"

"Not so much a 'but' as there's the fact that Yo-Yo had approached _me_ first in Sacramento, and yes, she knew that I knew that she was with Hydra – I saw her in Kaminski's team back in Italy...so I think her motives are genuine enough. Also, she is going to be contacting them soon enough...I am in on this...want to be in on this too? I know that you were not much into Hydra lately-"

"Hey, you were my SO, and I owe you after all the time you spent training me, and after Li Shi, and all, plus hey, we could spend some bonding time," Daisy grinned in a way that was almost Skye-like. "I'm game. You?"

"Ditto," Melinda smiled a tiny smile of her own and shook Daisy's hand in agreement. "Partner."

...It was then that Mack joined them, saying that they were back from the Mediterranean, and that they actually acquired autographs of Romanoff, and Banner, and that new Falcon guy, so do you want to see them? The autographs, that is, before Coulson hid them away – for safekeeping and other possibly logical reasons, too. Melinda and Daisy exchanged a look between each other and quickly walked off to see the autographs – but that was the story for another time.

 _TBC_

 _AN2: Yo-Yo was a part of the secret warriors back in comics, so I took her from there. I don't know if she'll appear on MCU though._


	9. Chapter 9

**Because Raina (part 9)**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™._

"So, this is the ATCU live," Jemma Simmons commented to Leo Fitz, as they, flanked by Mack and Coulson, followed Rosalind Price into the unit building's debt (sponsored by a number of people, from Tony Stark to Gideon Malick and beyond). "I got to say – we look more impressive."

"Jemma, stop," Leo replied, crossly. Yes, the relations between S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU had gone off on the right foot, but they did improve afterwards, and now, after Sacramento? Jemma's attitude was not cool. They had worked with _Grant Ward_ , after all, and after Ward, Rosalind Price and her people were definitely the more tolerable evil, if at that. "We are professionals ourselves, if at that."

"True, but when the InHumans are involved, shouldn't Skye, I mean – Daisy, be involved as well?" Jemma did not back down. "I mean yes, it's not like Ms. Price is going to kidnap us and hand us over to Hydra, but still, Daisy is the woman here."

"Perhaps," the aforementioned Ms. Price spoke up, indicating that while she _was not_ S.H.I.E.L.D., she still was not a pushover, but paid attention to her surroundings and to the people around her. "But firstly, agent Johnson is on a field mission that _is_ involving Hydra, alongside agent May, as I was told, and secondly? I would like a more scientific, hands-off look than what is agent Johnson's approach, when it comes to the InHumans."

Leo and Jemma blinked and then looked at Coulson, who looked back with his typical blank smile, indicating that this information, on May and Daisy's mission was classified.

"Great," Fitz muttered with a less than happy attitude. "Director, we really should talk to you about this entire compartmentalization thing, you know? Need as you must is one thing, but for another, Jemma and I have proven ourselves to S.H.I.E.L.D., we feel, so this mistrust-"

"Directors of S.H.I.E.L.D. don't have favourites-"

"Sir, that's bull-"

"We're here," Rosalind Price interrupted, loudly, the discussion between the two men, (even as Jemma looked somewhat uncomfortable at the unfolding argument), and the group...stepped into her own office.

"Ok, I was sort of expecting to see the InHuman in question in person," Leo supposed, "or is it another genuine alien? Maybe we were wrong, but this was the feeling that we got when you invited us here-"

"Bear with me," Rosalind Price said briskly, even as she pulled out some good old-fashioned photos and paper documents from a similarly old-fashioned folder. "You remember Sacramento, correct?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents nodded. This had not been their worst mission, but was certainly in the top ten. The fact that it was so unnecessary (seriously, what _had_ been that guy's M.O.?) only made it worse.

"Yes," Coulson answered for his team. "We do. Why, was there another situation like this one?"

"Of course not!" Price sounded genuinely offended here. "If there was, we would be dealing with it, would we not?" She looked as if she wanted to add more here, but visibly decided against it, and noticeably changed the topic, too. "Rather, there was a development, or a transformation, of the old one."

"We're talking terragenesis here?" Coulson turned even more professional and bland than how he was before.

"Perhaps, it isn't a term used here," Price admitted, as she began to show the S.H.I.E.L.D. team her photos. "This was found during the clean-up of Sacramento." 'This' was a cocoon, but not a human/InHuman one, but rather one truly and directly reminiscent of a butterfly's, or perhaps a house fly's (they pupate too, as Jemma pointed out, just as butterflies and moths do) instead.

"And this," Rosalind continued, when Jemma finished her explanation, "Is what hatched out of it few hours ago."

'This' was no fly or other winged insect, but a large – very large - worm or snake, muscular and scaly, with a mouth full of rows upon rows of triangular teeth. It had no human features whatsoever, on the other hand.

"Whoa!" the FitzSimmons gasped. "How big and bad is it?"

"About three times the size of an average human, we estimate, and it weights about half a metric ton," Rosalind said helpfully. "We already lost several people in getting this data, and I would like some expert advice, here."

"And you thought of us? How flattering," Leo muttered, feeling definitely uncomfortable: ironically, but S.H.I.E.L.D. _did not_ have too much expertise in encountering giant monsters – this was more of the Avengers thing, if their recent run-in with Galactus and the Guardians of the Galaxy was any indication.

"Flattering nothing, Fitz," Jemma said in her best professional voice. "Ms. Price, can we see the data on the original man, InHuman or otherwise? I think I have some glimmerings of a theory, here."

"Certainly," Rosalind Price produced more paperwork files, depicting the original person (human or InHuman) in question, done in a very familiar style.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D. style," even Mack recognized it. "How did you get it?"

"One of your people, agent Titus, had been one of the liaisons between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government since 2001; this was officially recognized back in 2007," Price shrugged. "Since Fury's death, he returned to the governmental fold." She gave Coulson a look. "Is it a problem?"

"Hard to say," Coulson confessed. "Make no mistake, working for the American government is an honor and a very good thing, but in truth? This is just the latest in a long line of reminders and realizations that a lot of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents went to work anywhere else than back to us," he grimaced sourly (for him, anyways). "Plus, I know the man – before the rise of Hydra he used to work in the Sandbox...never mind. So, you have access to the Index too – I guess this is how you were able to keep up and keep track of some of the InHumans."

"Yes, but it wasn't enough. Simran – if that was his real name – had outmaneuvered us all, hadn't he?" Rosalind did not back down. "Which actually brings us back to the reason behind your visit – not that I am unhappy if you visit me just because, but still."

"True that," nodded Jemma, as she had been studying the paperwork all the while Coulson and Price had talked, "and on this note, I can already see that this bloke was no Joey, but someone more like Lincoln, Gordon or Jiaying – a man who has done his paperwork in terms of his transformation: some of his equipment is reminiscent of what Lincoln and others have used on Skye back in Li Shi."

"Okay," everyone, starting with Coulson, turned to Jemma, who did her best to ignore the fact that she found herself the center of attention so abruptly. "What next?"

"Next, if there are any pictures of him after his transformation but before Skye – I mean Daisy – blasted him out of the sky?" Jemma looked slightly embarrassed by her request. "Now, I know that this is very unlikely-"

"Here they are. They aren't very good, but we do have them," Price's own face was carefully blank and professional as she handed the much-younger woman more papers.

"Impressive, how did you get them? Banks?" Coulson asked, even as Jemma pulled out some sort of a modified laser pen and began to half-sketch and half-scan the photos, which were murky and indistinct – but because they had captured a storm, not because the photographer was crappy.

"No, Harper and Cavanaugh," Price shook her head as she refused to be distracted. "They used to do this sort of thing before they joined the ATCU after I took over it from Ms. Garner. Dr. Fitz, Dr. Simmons?"

"There, see?" Jemma pointed out to a murky, indistinct shape, which, however, was rather worm- or snake-like in shape. "This is the shape the UnBodied began to take on, after he had taken off his earlier body and became a being of pure energy."

"I don't think I follow-"

"Yes, let me start again, from the top," Jemma took a breath. "Ever since Raina and Lincoln had approached us with their offer – and we have accepted it, BTW – Fitz and I, we had been in contact with them for the last month or so. It is not very regular, or comfortable, but we have talked. About, well, the InHumans. And Li Shi."

"Ok, and?"

"And the people there – they didn't treat the metamorphosis as a scientific process; it was more of a spiritual, or even an occult, event for them," Jemma replied, looking very serious. "It may sound ridiculous, but back when Jiaying was in charge of Li Shi? The whole metamorphosis process was a very slow one, one that took months, or even years, to be prepared for, and not everyone went through it, too. Some were refused, others refused themselves – and the same, we think, is going on in other InHuman societies, such as the one in Italy."

"And this relates to the UnBodied and his transformations how?"

"I'm not sure," Jemma confessed, deflating some, "but look. Our man did everything the 'right' way, and once he became a full InHuman – or an UnBodied, I suppose – he promptly began to acquire a snake-like form while destroying everyone and everything around him – this means that he began to see himself as some sort of a winged serpent from the beginning, when Skye – I mean Daisy – knocked him out of the sky, she just altered him somehow that his transformation became less spiritual and more literal, InHuman-like, I suppose, though I'm not sure that Lincoln and Raina would agree with it-"

"Jemma, please stop. You are babbling. Do you think that Lincoln and Raina would be interested in talking to us about this?" Leo interrupted his significant other.

Jemma took a breath – several of them – and looked gratefully at Leo: her babbling had gone out of control. "No," she finally spoke very firmly. "I mean, Lincoln isn't very happy in dealing with the InHumans, especially the new ones, who accidentally took a fish pill and didn't, well, die. Raina is more open, but she does not actually have too much knowledge about the InHuman dynamics, and often defers to Lincoln. It's not that they're against being brought into the fold, they just want to do this on their terms, and as we have seen so far, their terms are not fully compatible with ours-?"

"Maybe," Coulson nodded sagely. He himself was something of two minds when it came to the Caterpillars – yes, he still wanted to have this sort of team, especially with the new gifted coming out of the woodwork, but it was becoming increasingly clear to him that the InHuman/gifted situation was more complex than it was initially thought-off by S.H.I.E.L.D., and that his team would be more work than he had anticipated...

"Director? You okay?" Mack carefully gave the other man a nudge. "You seem to have zoned out here."

"I have? Sorry," Coulson grimaced. "It's just that I've been thinking-"

"Been there, done that," Leo nodded sagely. "Anyways-"

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

The speaker was a newcomer, a man of about Coulson's age, slightly heavyset, but not exactly heavy, soft-spoken, not particularly hostile looking (this was the job of his bodyguard), but Rosalind Price looked most unhappy at his arrival.

"Mr. Malick," she said, doing her best to sound neutral (and not succeeding at it very well). "What an unexpected visit. What do I owe the pleasure of your surprise?"

"Rosalind," Malick's smile was not very friendly either. "I _am_ one of the investors into ATCU, so I can come and visit you-"

"Yes, but I have sent you _positive_ reports, and have followed the _arrangement_ ," Rosalind Price sounded firmly dug-in into her defiance. "Why are there concerns?"

"Excuse me, but before we get into that, can you introduce me to your staff?" Malick said brightly, pointedly ignoring the last question. "I don't remember meeting them – are they Cavanaugh and Harper?"

"No, we're actually from S.H.I.E.L.D.," Jemma said warily. She did not know why, but this Mr. Malick just rubbed her S.H.I.E.L.D. senses all wrong.

"Ah, then this must be agent Coulson," Malick promptly shifted his attention to Coulson, reaching out to shake his head.

"Director Coulson, actually," Coulson shook the offered hand, though not with his cybernetic limb. "I've been hearing things about you, too."

"Only good ones, I hope?" Malick grinned.

"I remember you being friends with Nick Fury. I also remember you being friends with Undersecretary Pierce."

"Ah yes, that was a sad story, what with them trying to take over the world and then falling out over it," Malick did not back down. "Still, there were rumours of one of them coming back as a zombie or something."

"You're wrong. Fury's a hero. He isn't a zombie either," Coulson's look did not waver, but neither did Malick's. "He's working with the Avengers nowadays, in fact."

"And for another fact, many people no longer feel that the Avengers are what they once were, either," the latter actually shot back. "Including Tony Stark, incidentally."

"Perhaps they aren't, but until we know that for sure, we don't know that at all," Coulson snapped. "Yes, agent Mackenzie? What are you doing?"

"I was talking to Ms. Price – Daisy has called me earlier, while you and Mr. Malick, sir, were having your robust and solid discussion about philosophy – and maybe you should go off each other right now, unless, of course, you're going to bring it one step further instead?"

The two men looked down, realized that they were still gripping each other – in a grip that was anything but friendly, by now, and let go off each other, at once.

"So, what were you talking about to Ms. Price?" Leo said quickly, though in part he was honestly curious.

"Oh, Daisy and May's mission got wrapped up already, so I was updating them about the new development in our Sacramento mission," Mack broadly indicated at the photos on Price's desk. "Since Daisy is involved with the InHuman project of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, she requested to be briefed on this situation – Ms. Price?"

"What new development, Ms. Price?" Malick turned around and gave the woman a very sharp look. "Have you secured another alien, as you had told me earlier?"

"You told him about the alien head-hunter?" Jemma sounded incredulous and genuinely hurt.

"Mr. Malick," Price took off her spectacles and looked the younger woman in the eye, "was a part of the ATCU from the start; the potential rehabilitation people are being stored in his facilities for the ATCU, I must confess, isn't as well equipped in dealing with specialized cases as S.H.I.E.L.D. is – the Sacramento situation had revealed that to everyone involved, I believe."

"The alien wasn't a part of the Sacramento situation-"

"True and he is still in _our_ storage facility, for how can you rehabilitate an alien from being an alien? I mean, yes, this is a part of Obama cabinet's foreign policy, but-"

"Please, Ms. Price, let's not talk about your Republican views," Malick interjected smoothly. "Anyways, the alien's still here-"

"And so's the gifted who had caused the Sacramento situation," Rosalind nodded. "Sadly, in the fallout, he had evolved into this," she tapped the photo of the worm-like creature that the UnBodied had transformed in the end. "So far, in his new shape, the subject seems to be depicting only animal behavior, and not very lively one at that – more like a snake than a mammal, to be more precise."

"Interesting, and S.H.I.E.L.D., with its director and agent Johnson are here to take it off your hands?" Malick purred, even as he narrowed his eyes.

"I'm open to suggestions," Rosalind's smile was not friendly either. "This thing is now an animal that _eats_ people, you know?"

"Indeed? Can I see it in person?"

"But of course, sir. Agent Banks?"

Rosalind's second-in-command walked over from his spot. "Show Mr. Malick and his entourage our Californian captive, would you?"

Banks nodded, and firmly taking the industrialist by an elbow walked off with him, shadowed by Malick's own bodyguard. Once they were out of sight, Price just sagged.

"Mackenzie?" Coulson turned to the bigger man. "What's happening?"

"Daisy called, it's possible that our new man Malick's Hydra, Ms. Price claims not to be one of them," the latter quickly replied, even as the FitzSimmons began to watch the door. "Daisy and May need to know what the situation is here-"

"Right," Coulson nodded, his gaze resting unwaveringly on Price. "Rosalind, we have to go-"

"Can I come too?" the woman asked, quietly. "I'm not Hydra, but even if I was, I would still go with you – you're the better man than Malick is."

"Acknowledged," Coulson nodded, his voice and face carefully blank, even as Rosalind got quickly onto her feet and joined the others. "Mack, May and Daisy are-?"

"Just outside the ATCU under the cloaking cover," the engineer turned field agent replied promptly. "What the plan?"

"Peaceful," the director shook his head. "We're not engaging in any fire fights, unless Malick and his men do. How many of them are there?"

Rosalind quickly checked the view from the outside camera and gave the number.

"Ok, so once we're outside it's going to be tricky, Mack tell Daisy and May that once we're outside they're to engage Malick's people-"

The ATCU building shook. "Damn it, did they begin," Coulson began, suspecting (perhaps reasonably) that Daisy was already engaging their foes.

"I don't think it's Daisy, sir," Jemma said quietly. "This feels differently from her attacks-"

"Phil," Rosalind's voice was...genuinely scared, not unlike how she sounded immediately after Sacramento situation. "You and your people must see this."

Wordlessly, Phil and the FitzSimmons complied, even as the small group were already moving towards the building's exit. On the tablet's screen they could see the UnBodied turned worm, as it was out of its containment unit, (opened from the outside), with Malick firmly in its jaws. There was no sign of the bodyguard, and-

"I'm sorry, but looks as if they're fusing together somehow," Rosalind blinked. "Or are my eyes just getting old?"

"Yes, they are," Simmons said weakly. "Sir, director Coulson-"

"Run!" Coulson said brightly, as the worm/Malick's convulsions continued to grow stronger – a network of dark, even black veins was spreading all over them too, but that wasn't important as the group did run, for this was neither the time nor the place for this sort of battle...

/

...Sadly, once they were outside, Coulson, (for one), belatedly realized that they were supposed to being going for inconspicuous, but that was ok. Quite a few other people had left the building once the tremors began in earnest, and were milling around, and generally asking Ms. Price as to what was going on? Paradoxically, perhaps, but they actually helped to restore the woman's self-confidence, as she explained that it was nothing, just some building flaw, and that everyone should take some time off, as suggested in their employment contract clause, number N? This was met with some surprising (or perhaps not so surprising – ATCU's employers had already had encounters with gifted people by now, so they had some idea of what was going on in their place) understanding, and generally, the crowd began to disperse with nary an argument, save for-

"So, this is what Ms. Garner had been worrying about, is it?" a slim, redheaded woman with a professional attitude and an age of somewhere between Melinda and Daisy approached Rosalind, followed by a man of about her age, with clear Hindi roots in his family tree.

"Ms. Cavanaugh, Mr. Harper, it's nice to see you too," Rosalind Price didn't break her stride, even as she stuck around with Coulson and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. "This is director Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. and some of his people. Director Coulson, those two are Cavanaugh and Harper – I believe you were asking about them since the Sacramento incident?"

"Nice to meet you," Coulson said with a small smile. "Pity about the circumstances-"

"Don't worry, Ms. Garner was half-expecting this sort of thing to happen since 2007...it's a long story," Cavanaugh said with a smile of her own. "Ms. Price, we'll call you later."

"Any idea as to what has happened to Banks?" the latter grimaced.

"We'll worry about it," the younger woman responded calmly, and walked off in another direction, clearly content about leaving their supposed superior with S.H.I.E.L.D. (Of course, neither Price nor Coulson were against this, but still.)

"So, this was Cavanaugh and Harper?" Coulson commented.

"Yes, they were back with Garner ever since 2001-" Price began but didn't finish, as Malick emerged from the ATCU building, looking nothing worse for wear, yet the gaze on his face was...off, somehow, as was his color in general: somehow he looked paler, less healthy, than how he was before.

"Director Coulson, Rosalind, we weren't finished," he began, but did not finish, as Skye, (or rather – Daisy) appeared from a side and slammed her vibrations into him. She tore up the parking lot before the ATCU building and...knocked Malick off his feet, leaving him unharmed and unaffected otherwise. "That smarts!" the industrialist (or the former industrialist?) grunted, and promptly began to get back onto his feet.

Immediately, Daisy collapsed the ATCU front doorway onto him. This did not do such a great job of stopping Malick too – immediately he began to wriggle chunks and pieces of masonry and other materials off him.

"People, we're going _now_ ," Melinda's voice was sharp enough to slice through glass, if not the aforementioned masonry by itself, and for once Coulson (and the others) didn't argue with the Cavalry, but complied quite willingly instead...

/

"So, how was your op?" Coulson, politely, asked Daisy (May was busy with flying the cloaked jet) some time later, once they had put some safe distance between themselves and Malick (maybe they had him outnumbered, but after several run-ins with Lash numbers were not as crucial as they were once).

"Very good," Daisy replied, just as politely. "Got few former Hydra soldiers who gave themselves over to us, meaning S.H.I.E.L.D. Apparently, not even some Hydra people want to be Hydra anymore."

Coulson blinked.

"Look, it isn't such a big deal," Daisy said quickly. "These aren't very high-ranking or competent, me or Cavalry alone could've kicked their asses-"

"Then why did you go together?" Jemma could not help but to ask.

"To bond," Daisy shrugged. "The Cavalry _was_ my S.O., and I need to mend fences with her ever since Li Shi and the Iliad... I think that we did do that, today..."

"Fair enough," Coulson decided not to pick on this – lately the things had been tense in the team, after all. "But how did you come onto us?"

There was a pause as Coulson face-palmed.

"You're so lucky that you're the director, DC, and that we know you," Daisy muttered, "because otherwise? Ouch! But seriously, this particular bunch of ex-Hydra were working under a man named Kebo, who was a bodyguard for some bigwig-"

"His name is Malick, he was the man that you have fought in the parking lot," Rosalind said quietly.

"Oh," Daisy blinked. "Why would he need a bodyguard? For appearances' sake?"

"Until today I had thought him to be just an ordinary man," Rosalind replied, "and perhaps he was."

"But-?" Daisy pressed. "He transformed? Were fish pills involved?"

"No, it actually goes back to Sacramento," Rosalind shook her head. "Phil?"

Quickly, utilizing the saved footage from the ATCU, Coulson and the others filled Daisy (and Melinda, who turned on the intercom on Coulson's request, so that her fellow agents would not need to shout) in on Malick's own metamorphosis.

"This...this is beyond bad," Daisy sounded genuinely stunned. "I don't- I didn't know who or what that was, back at the ATCU, but he didn't have any human vibrations. And – this sort of fusion? I have no idea how it works. We need to talk to Lincoln – and Raina – stat."

"We probably need to talk to Ward too," Melinda said through the intercom. "Firstly, because Lincoln and Raina will tell him and Palamas everything anyways, and secondly? Phil, Hydra currently is not as formidable as it was before. Already there are desertions from it. Maybe, with Ward's info and help we can chip away at it further? I mean, Malick on his own is bad enough, and with Hydra's support behind him..."

"I'll think about it," Coulson replied, not sounding very happy about Melinda's idea of contacting Ward too.

An uneasy silence descended onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. team.

 _TBC_

 _AN – Harper is based on Ramon Tikram; Cavanaugh – on Ruth Gemmell._

 _AN2 – my version of Malick is based on the mayor of Sunnydale from BtVS S3._


	10. Chapter 10

**Because Raina (part 9)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _AN: this chapter contains a brief crossover with the Avengers._

Lincoln Campbell was not sure how he felt about camping, for throughout most of his life, he was an urban person, not a rural one. As a doctor, he was used to a certain level of living, (which was relatively posh), and as a fugitive... he was not a fugitive for very long, actually, until Raina and the others found him in Texas and picked him up.

Then there was Australia, but again, it did not differ too much from his life in Li Shi, but in a good way. Lincoln always did know that he could take (or tolerate) nature in registered doses, but camping? This was something else.

Admittedly, this camping had been largely impromptu in itself: the latest piece of Kara Lynn's mission, (one written in ancient Greek) had been finally deciphered, leading her, Grant Ward and the others to the U.S.' east coast, of all places. There, the team discovered yet another cache of hidden knowledge, yet another prehistoric (probably artificial) creature guarding it, and had generally come out on top, even though the animal in question was even bigger than their bear-dog was, and with an even meaner (much meaner, actually), disposition. Needless to say, they decided not to keep it, and so Alisha took Dr. Powers and the rest to the Avengers, to give it to them for their own mascot, for the Hulk could certainly handle the critter, right?..

So far so good, but this did mean that Lincoln, Raina and the older couple were left 'roughing it' in the North American woods – a situation that Lincoln had never expected himself to find in (he wasn't big on camping – see above). Grant, on the other hand, was clearly enjoying himself, and so was 'Ms. Palamas', as the two of them were currently cuddling and talking to each other, _sotto voce_ , in Spanish. Lincoln's Spanish was progressing in itself – Grant and Kara Lynn talked in Spanish to each other almost as much as they did in English, Raina was doing her best follow them, and he was following her. 'Wait for me, I'm the smallest', **sigh**

"What are you thinking about?" Raina, (speaking of her), asked with a slight smile. "Moody, are we?"

"More like that I could use some more Spanish, so maybe we can have a session of our own?" Lincoln asked, slyly. "It'll be still some time before Alisha returns with our ride, so how about we talk – and we walk around?" he added, picking up a fallen maple leaf from Raina's fronds. He thought about it some more and put it back instead. "You look really nice here," he added, unintentionally.

"Right," Raina blushed chestnut. "Let's do have that walk, Romeo, and then we'll talk."

Lincoln grinned.

/

"All right, team!" Daisy told her Warriors (Joey, Yo-Yo and the werewolf), "we're here on a recon mission first and foremost. The man, Gideon Malick, he is powerful, probably very dangerous, and most likely he is quite unpredictable. We are not engaging him if he is here, and if he is not... then it is for the better. Proceed!"

The group split into two pairs – Joey went with Yo-Yo, Daisy went in with the werewolf. They entered the building, looked around and whistled. "This isn't what the director expected, right?" Joey spoke.

Daisy mutely nodded. The building was trashed – everything inside of it was destroyed, demolished, burnt, etc. There was no sign of life in it either, none at all.

"You know," Joey continued, "this reminds me of an electric fire, for some reason."

"As opposed to-?"

"Fire started with gasoline, for example, or spilled car fuel," Joey elaborated. "I have seen plenty of fires while working in the construction."

"I thought that you were some big-shot spy?" Yo-Yo pointed out.

"I was, but I was undercover for a reason...plus how do you think that I know about fires so much? I am no Hawkeye, you know, who can defeat an opponent with a bow and an arrow at 30 paces-"

"Anyways," Daisy continued, "let's assume that it was an electric fire of some sort...and the residue on the walls is purely some sort of coincidence?"

The werewolf chose this moment to sneeze and to give Daisy (and the others) a very pointed look. "Right," Daisy spoke into the comm.-link. "FitzSimmons? It's your turn?"

Several moments later a swarm of new DWARFS, with new built-in equipment and designs flew in and began to access the situation – all by themselves. "Leo, Jemma?" Daisy continued to speak through the comm.-link. "You know that the building is empty, right?"

"Yes, but, you know? Maybe there's some biological mutagenic contaminant left behind?" Jemma did sound somewhat apologetic over the same link. "It's not that we're scared, we're, just, um, thinking that maybe you four should get out and go through quarantine and check-up? I'll do the check-up, BTW."

It was then that one of the little robots came too close in contact with the waxy green substance – and it proved to be rather corrosive, as the mini-machine collapsed into a tiny pile of smoking machine parts, literally speaking.

"I didn't see this one coming," Yo-Yo spoke next to Daisy, rather than from her old position. "Boss, commander? I did some scouting right now, and there seems to be no life forms, none whatsoever."

"You're fast," Daisy said slowly, "but not that fast-"

"And I didn't cover the whole building, just the nearby rooms," Yo-Yo confessed. "After I had almost run-into this green waxy gunk I am not taking chances, not even with my speed – not in _these_ casual shoes."

"Acknowledged," Daisy grimaced. She herself had been sending out vibrations a-la feelers to see what would come up, and so far came up empty. "FitzSimmons? The building still appears to be deserted. Send-in the clean-up crew?"

"On it!" Simmons spoke in an especially bright tone of voice, as even more robots (bigger ones than the DWARFS) rode in.

"Seriously?" Daisy suppressed the urge to kick one of them. Barely.

/

"So, this is the progress?" Coulson spoke with his usual bland smile, (though it was a bit more frayed around the edges than the usual), "no nothing?"

"I wouldn't call it nothing – just one demolished office," Rosalind Price shook her head. "ATCU wasn't just one office, you know, or rather isn't. I have been in touch with other people at the other offices – so far they have not been hit, by Hydra or by anyone else, but that probably won't last."

"I didn't know about the other offices," Coulson commented to her in an easygoing tone.

"They're a relatively recent development; those antidote pills do provide an interesting alternative to the containment units," Rosalind replied in an equally easygoing tone. "Phil, remember when I told Malick that all the reports were positive? I lied – well, not exactly lied, but I can tell you that his replies were polite, but not exactly positive. True, he is just one shareholder out of several, but-"

"Shareholder?" Coulson's curiosity continued to grow.

"ATCU is a joint public-private venture, with the U.S. government being the main shareholder," Rosalind explained. "Malick didn't have as much clout in the Unit as he would've liked."

"Yes, but the word 'unit' implies, well, a singular unit-"

"You haven't yet met Ms. Garner. She was planning to expand all along, and the antidote pills, no matter how temporary, were just the right thing to do."

"I remember hearing about the woman," Coulson continued thoughtfully. "She's not an American, is she?"

"Her parents moved here from Britain; she has the accent from time to time, but otherwise? She is not exactly a foreigner... Anyways, we will be meeting her in a couple of days, so we're going clothes shopping."

"Excuse me?" It has been a while since Coulson experienced female logic directed at himself directly, not since the Battle of New York, and so he was caught flat-footed. "What do you mean, shopping?"

"Phil, you're a wonderful man, but Ms. Garner is something else. I would rather meet the First Lady when she got her head full of steam in one of her social projects, than Ms. Garner. When you meet her, you'll understand."

"Aha," Phil fiddled with his collar. "How does this work, exactly?"

"I'm going to ask Ms. Garner for advice – plus, if Malick has become whatever he has become, she needs to know. I confess that I would rather do it with you," Rosalind gave Coulson a look, and the latter did what other men usually have done: he caved.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Melinda May got into the office.

"No, nothing," Daisy said brightly, even as Rosalind and Coulson looked away, in slight embarrassment. "What's up?"

"We located Ward and the others. Do you want to come?"

Daisy blinked and realized that the older woman was talking to _her_. "All right," she spoke, swallowing from the sudden nervousness, "but let's do it the other way around – you talk, I loom. Well, sort of – I don't do this looming very well yet."

"Mack is coming with us too," Melinda spoke with a tiny smirk (especially for her). "He'll do the looming with you." She paused and added, in a much more serious tone, even for her: "That said, considering that agent 33 is involved, I'm not sure that looming will be required."

"Point," Daisy agreed, before she was interrupted by Rosalind:

"I'm sorry, but what am I missing? Last time I heard, Ward and the others weren't your friends?"

"It's complicated, but the truth is? None of them are particularly friendly towards Hydra; in fact, they all dislike Hydra much more than S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 33 in particular had been once one of us, but had been captured, brainwashed and abused by Hydra; I doubt that she'll pick them over us, and she and Ward and the others seem pretty tight," Melinda finished the long speech (by her standards).

"Yes, but why are you getting involved with them?"

"Because Hydra sucks – big time," Daisy joined in. "Apparently, even some Hydra agents would rather _not_ be Hydra agents. We are wondering if we cannot increase the flow, see? Fewer Hydra agents – fewer Hydra agents for us to fight in particular." She paused and added a trifle bashfully: "We're _not_ making them S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or anything, but we _are_ making deals with them, D.C."

"D.C.?"

"Director Coulson," the aforementioned D.C. explained.

"As opposed to Direct Current, I suppose," Rosalind nodded, in understanding, before smirking slightly. "Although you're pretty direct as well, and as for the current-"

"We're going now!" Daisy said faux-cheerfully and fled, followed by May, from Coulson's office.

/

 _Several hours later..._

The plane landed in the middle of a national park. "Doesn't look like one of Ward's typical haunts," Mack muttered to May, even as they (and Daisy) came out. "He struck me as an urban sort of man."

"No, not really," Kara Lynn answered instead, as she, Ward, and the others just stared at the emerging trio. "I remember you, incidentally. You're Mackenzie, right?"

"Yes, but call me Mack," the big grunted, secretly pleased that the beginning is not immediately hostile. "Everybody does. Anyways, May and Daisy and the rest of us are wondering if you're interested in working with us against Hydra again."

There was a pause, which was finally broken by Ward. "That's a pretty big, or vague, offer," he said slowly. "What exactly are we looking at? Because as Skye and May here can attest, the last time we tried this, it didn't go so well for either side."

"True," May nodded, "but this time it's different. Your former underlings, the ones you have met in Italy, they have brokered a deal with us against Hydra. We were hoping to continue this trend, and-"

"Stop, let's talk Hydra itself for the moment," Grant interrupted her. "The truth is, Hydra itself is an assemblage of various cells, often with various goals in mind, without any loyalty between themselves. The Japanese, especially have been stirring – the last time they did it, it was in the nineties, and neither Garrett nor Whitehall had been happy with them."

"And you still claim _not_ to be loyal to Hydra?" Daisy could not help but to ask – seeing Grant just sitting there, looking like a perfectly ordinary man just rubbed her wrong.

"I had an epiphany or two about that," her former S.O. agreed, giving her a blank look, "but I'm not going to share them, especially with you. Can I continue?"

"Yes, please," Melinda gave the younger woman a look of her own. "Go on."

"There's not much to go on. Most of the lower ranks – such as Kaminsky, for example – are largely mercenaries; on occasion, they were actually employed legitimately by the old S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. I am not sure whom are they working for, Hydra-wise, but it probably comes down to the basic issue of self-preservation, and when it comes to mercenaries, I cannot make any predictions, Cavalry, any more than you can."

"Self-preservation, you say?" Melinda nodded and gave Ward the last depiction of Malick's own metamorphosis. "Would this work?"

Grant took one look at the image and promptly gave it over to Lincoln and Raina: "What do you two think?"

"All right," Lincoln took a break. "The UnBodied are called so, because they are UnBodied, they transformed themselves into beings of pure energy, without any flesh like you or I. Only it does not work that way – we in Li Shi do not know why, but sunlight, especially direct sunlight, weakens and kills them. Plus, energy weapons are good too, but to counter this, the UnBodied acquire new bodies: either they create them out of inorganic matter, like golems, or steal them, by consuming the souls of other people."

"Souls? Souls are real?" Daisy stared.

"What do you think the UnBodied are, just people without bodies? They're souls, spirits without them," Lincoln said simply. "Daisy, just because we're not normal doesn't mean that we're soulless."

Daisy looked away, so Mack took over. "We never implied that, man, you know it. How does this relate? I mean," he quickly amended, "what has happened to this man after you and Daisy got through with him, well..."

"Well what?" Lincoln grew curious.

Mack exchanged looks with the other two and told them as to what had happened in ACTU, as well as what had had happened immediately after the storm in Sacramento.

"Oh boy," Lincoln gulped. "People, we got a problem. I think that Malick had already gone his metamorphosis-"

"He's also an UnBodied?" Grant specified.

"Looks like it, yes. Now he has fused with the Sacramento guy, and his might just have doubled or worse."

"I say," Daisy grimaced. "Twice I hit him with everything I got, and it barely slowed him down."

"Have you used the cannon that the FitzSimmons had built for you-"

"They're rebuilding it in a better way-"

"It won't work. As long as the UnBodied has a body, direct approach will not work," Lincoln shook his head. "I'm not sure if I know anything else about them-"

"Then come with us," Mack suggested gently. "Grant and Kara Lynn can help us work with the mercenaries, you two can help the FitzSimmons figure out how to deal with Malick next-"

"Excuse me," Grant said politely, but firmly, and taking Kara Lynn off to the side, began to talk to her. Sadly, it was in Spanish, so the others, (well, mostly the S.H.I.E.L.D. group) had trouble following, even May.

"Ok," Kara Lynn finally switched back to English. "We'll do it, if it is okay with you two," she nodded towards the younger couple.

"Hm," Raina put on an exaggeratedly thoughtful look on her face, while the others, including Lincoln, waited patiently. "I won't object, although, Ms. Palamas, this means that sooner rather than later you will have to make a choice. There are too many options, so I cannot tell you what it will be, but you will have to make a choice. It's your call."

"I'll take it," Kara Lynn nodded to the younger woman, before shifting her attention back to May and the others. "Very well, we'll come to the HQ, but, well, I do have my own mission – my old S.H.I.E.L.D. mission – so we will be working on that too."

"It's acceptable," Melinda nodded. "Anything in particular?"

"Right now we'll be working on some Native American languages," Kara Lynn grimaced, "also have you forgotten? We have a bear-dog," she indicated the animal in question (it had been busy eating a deer), "so please don't put us into a vault, would you?"

"If you won't do anything that merits that – deal," Melinda nodded. "Anything else?"

"I just, we just, can you keep Hunter and Morse away from us?" Kara Lynn faltered for the first time. "We would rather not deal with them, if you please. If it is necessary – fine, but if it isn't..."

"That can be arranged," Melinda nodded. This was not an unusual request, especially by the standards of the old S.H.I.E.L.D. – yes, the agents were a team, but some worked better with others than with a third party, or vice versa. While Hunter and Morse were agents, and Kara Lynn and her party were not, if they were to be working with S.H.I.E.L.D., some arrangements could be made... "Is that it?"

"Deal." Kara Lynn nodded, and the two women shook their hands.

(For her part, Daisy was not sure that having Grant and his party back in S.H.I.E.L.D., even on a temporary basis, was a good idea. Judging by the closed, subdued look on Grant's face, he did not think so either.)

/

 _Meanwhile..._

"Whee! I'm the Crimson Queen of Kostopchin!" yelled Wanda the Scarlet Witch as she rode the huge andrewsarchus that Dr. Amanda Powers and co. had pawned off to the Avengers as their mascot. "Bow before my power!"

"Never! Rein of death, baby!" yelled the Falcon as he used his flying technology to get onto the top of things.

"Is it too late to exchange some of them for the super-adaptoid of Justin Hammer's?" Natasha muttered to Steve in regards to their protégés.

"Nat, relax." Hawkeye, who initially came here to be some sort of a special guest star, finished his lunch, propped his prop bow and arrow, and joined the others, before joining the fray of the younger generation. "Your thunderbird friend is still cooler, I bet. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be Legolas." He put on a jaunty hat and ventured forth.

"...And this is why Laura can have him," the Black Widow told her partner. "Want to join in?"

Steve shrugged, blushing. Apparently, he did.

/

 _Meanwhile..._

"...And so, the deal with made," Daisy finished telling the story to the FitzSimmons. "Ward and the rest of his party are back in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Does it bother you?" Leo Fitz gave Daisy a piercing look.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Yes," Leo said flatly. "Jemma may be friends with the flower girl – sort of, when they start to talk botany and biochemistry and natural sciences it's just weird, but Lincoln is no more interested in joining the discussion than I am. Kara Lynn Palamas once tried to end me, before the Arctic mission, and Ward...he is Ward. Either he is faking it, _again_ , or...he is not faking it, and that's just worse." He visibly shivered. "And this is on top of the fact that none of the residue makes sense! We talked to Joey, some signs _do_ indicate an electrical fire, but others are more indicative of a chemical flame, acidic, rather than basic, in nature, and-"

"Fitz! I got it. You two are stumped!" Daisy spoke with a smile, trying to diffuse the rant.

"We're not stumped – we are just at a temporary dead end," Jemma glared, before trying to diffuse the situation herself. "And also, nice leadership skills in there-"

"Please. It was an empty building. A hollowed-out building, like how worm eats an apple from the inside out, nothing more. We found nothing; you guys are at a temporary dead end, and honestly? Yes, this alliance will not be a very good one – for both sides. May and Kara Lynn may have an understanding, but the rest of us? No, just no."

"And yet, Malick's worse," Leo shivered. "I remember Sacramento. I remember what happened after, after you fell asleep. It was devastated, at least in part. It probably wasn't as bad the battle of New York, but still." He shivered. "And Malick wants to bring this back, or to do something along the similar lines, I don't know. He's insane."

"Ward thinks so too," Daisy confessed, reluctantly. "As soon as they boarded the plane he began to write down the list of the people he knows, or knew, in Hydra – name, rank, serial number. Apparently, he hopes that some of them at least will abandon ship once they'll learn about Malick's true nature and that he's the sort of an InHuman that eats minds and steals bodies."

The FitzSimmons gulped. "He is?" they asked as one.

"Yes, according to Lincoln. Guys, he is like that bloke from Sacramento. When we came into his apartment, we saw a bunch of things, but one of them was a human skin with organs gone, or liquefied, or something," Daisy shivered herself. "Those UnBodied are not like the other InHumans, they're something else, something nastier."

"Well, of course they are," Raina stuck her head into the lab room. "Also, either Melinda May or director Coulson has a strange sense of humour or irony. The four of us will be next door to the two of you," she gave the FitzSimmons a smile that was not exactly friendly. "Yay."

"Hey, I thought that we were getting along," Jemma said in an indignant tone of voice.

"We do, the rest of us – not so much," Raina shrugged. "And back to the previous topic – check out the Index, it got quite a bit of information on all sorts of gifted – not just the InHumans, werewolves too, for example."

"You're too nice," Daisy muttered. Currently, Raina reminded her of her pre-Puerto Rico self, and not in a good way.

"No, I'm not," Raina shook her head. "I once was too jealous instead – too jealous of you, Daisy Johnson. This is why, I suspect, the Obelisk had made me green. Ever since I found friends of my own, my jealousy is going down, but it still shows."

"Grant doesn't have any friends," Fitz snapped.

"And if you hadn't tried to cop a feel of me back on the Greek island I would actually believe you," Raina smirked. "To Grant, you embody everything that he never had, and lost all the same," she pointed to Fitz. "And as for you," she turned to Daisy, "it will be interesting to see just what Ms. Palamas will choose, with you around, because you know what, Daisy Johnson? Your destiny is to be a leader, a great and glorious leader, taking the others onto your glory, for the ride. This is your power. Bi-Grant Ward's power is different – he makes his own destiny, he burns through the obstacles, and no one can affect him, not unless he chooses them to. This is his power; he just has trouble controlling it. Between Ms. Palamas, and I, and even Lincoln," here Raina blushed slightly, her golden eyes dimmed a bit, and she stopped looking like some sort of a Disney villain, "he is getting the hang of it. Anyways," she turned back to Jemma, "we're having tea. You want some?"

"Why not?" Jemma shrugged, apparently confused, or caught flat-footed, "what kind is it?"

"Herbal," Raina replied. "We kind of gotten to like it-"

"I'll try it, but I make no guarantees," the British agent said in a rather prudish, and British, tone of voice.

"Great, come on!" Raina nodded, and the two women left.

"...Did Jemma just went to have tea with the hoodoo woman of the swamp wannabee?" Leo asked Daisy.

The InHuman agent just shrugged and began to work on her own part of the anti-Hydra plan.

 _TBC_

 _AN2 – this is taking place before the Civil War movie._


	11. Chapter 11

**Because Raina (part 11)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: just think of Ms. Garner as an aged version of Belinda Stewart-Wilson._

Phil Coulson was concerned. In a tiny, little way – but still concerned. He had faced Loki, Hydra, the InHumans and a host of other threats too, but never before had he experienced someone he was about to meet now – a potential (surrogate?) mother-in-law. True, Roz was not an orphan, she had her own family, (supposedly), but- but so had Phil himself – but then there had been Nick Fury, who had been someone else in his life, and so, Coulson suspected, was Helen Garner in the life of Rosalind.

…Of course, Phil was aware that he and Roz had been two different people, that is Helen is nothing like Nick Fury is, but still. Um. He is not going to explain that to Roz, not now and here, not after she took him on a very private and considering shopping trip, and um, he is beginning to realize how a normal relationship works (say the one between Melinda and Andrew, for example. This also means… he is not sure what it means, but Roz is nervous, Phil is nervous by osmosis of some sort, and there is something in the air now, suggesting that director of S.H.I.E.L.D. or not, Coulson is in for a tough time. Yay. Alternatively, possibly – not…no, he is in for a tough time altogether.

"Rose, come in," a woman's voice spoke from the inside. "Ah, and that must director Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Please, sir, come in too!"

…For some reason this did not sound encouraging to Coulson. Judging by Rosalind's face, she shared his sentiment, but – they went in all the same. A woman of maybe their age, maybe older, but clearly weathered and tanned to a point where it was hard to tell her age (maybe 40, maybe 60, maybe more) met them.

"Ms. Garner!" Rosalind exclaimed brightly. " _So_ nice to see you. Did Harper and Cavanaugh talk to you already?"

"Of course," Ms. Garner nodded simply. "Ms. Price," she paused and stopped, thinking over. "Director Coulson. Is it true that S.H.I.E.L.D. is working together with ATCU in an official capacity?"

"Yes," Coulson blurted, aware that the truth was more ambiguous than this: the paperwork was still unfinished, and the relationship between the two organizations could go either way still – but this was not something to bring up, especially with Rosalind in the vicinity. "It is, at least on our end. Ms. Price?"

"Yes," Rosalind nodded, giving Phil a look that was nothing short of grateful. "It is. Ms. Garner-"

"Rose, stop," the U.S. official spoke and Rosalind immediately fell silent. "Cavanaugh and Harper have already filled me in. This was genuinely unexpected – Gideon Malick was not the sort of man to take personal risks, he usually got other people to do it." Another pause. "Director Coulson, what are you planning to do about him?"

"We're working on his - him already, stripping down his power base," Coulson said, sounding more uncertain than he would have liked. "The progress is slow, but-"

"Director Coulson, I am not a crocodile. Nor a shark, a giant seal, a whale, anything that must be treated with soft gloves as Rosalind here seems to have told you," Helen shook her head. "Please, don't treat me as some sort of a monster or a high-maintenance witch that should be treated as one."

"That's not the impression you gave back in 2007," Phil said quietly. "I wasn't involved in this personally, Fury was, but I did keep an eye on things."

"Perhaps, but then you should know that I have adjusted my attitudes since then…maybe," Ms. Garner smiled widely, warmly, in a manner that was reminiscent of a crocodile (or perhaps, a giant, crocodile-sized toad) for some reason. "But this isn't about me – it's about Gideon Malick. The man gets around, and his Gothic industries are an important part of the U.S. financial world. Recently, however, their output has fallen by 10%, which is not good – director Coulson, time is working against you. You are working in the shadows, it seems, while Malick is not. Put otherwise, the two of you are doing two very different games, and I am afraid that the U.S. will be the loser here. I am not an American fully, I have been born in Great Britain, but this does not matter. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Coulson nodded in acknowledgement. "Are we dismissed?"

"Largely – yes," Ms. Garner nodded, toning her former attitude somewhat. "I am impressed with the breakthroughs that you've done regarding the entire alien-human hybrid situation, and even more so – with what happened in California, and I will be contacting Mr. Stark and the others in regards to the financial situation, but you will still have to do your part." She paused. " _Now_ you are dismissed. You can leave." She smiled another smile, this one tiny, but still rather predatory and cold-blooded.

Rosalind turned red, then a shade of an almost blue color, but said nothing. "Ms. Garner," Coulson's own voice was carefully controlled and bland. "Thank you for your time. I- _We_ really appreciate it." He squeezed back Rosalind's hand in a supportive way (she has taken his hand in the process of the discussion), and the two of them left.

/

"Hey, what's up," Lance spoke to Kara Lynn as the latter was sitting some distance away from Grant and Melinda (who were interviewing Yo-Yo about the rest of her team and her Hydra knowledge), and he himself was emerging from the gym after a recent workout. "Shouldn't you be in there, helping with translations and all-"

Quietly, Kara Lynn shifted around, and Lance realized that he had really put his foot in, somehow, and he did not even know how. "Sorry," he tried to backpedal quickly, "it's just that-"

"I'm Latino?" the former agent 33 replied with a small, sad and humorless smile on her face. "I'm not."

"Could've fooled me."

"I know," Kara Lynn did not appear to be angry, just sad, still. "My mother was Latino, but she moved to Great Britain when she was the FitzSimmons' age, maybe a bit older, in search of a better life. There she had me. Until I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., I have never been in Central or South America ever. I didn't really know Spanish, and my Catholicism was more of a Scottish than a Spanish version, to put in general terms."

"Um," Lance blinked, as he realized that the woman was bonding with him, sort of, no matter how strange it was. "This is-"

"My father," Kara Lynn continued, clearly with a head full of steam or a similar substance, "wasn't Latino too. He was…Afro-British? Is this the right term? I do not know, nor do I care, nor do I know _him_ – I have never met him: I am a girl, you see, so he had abandoned my mother as soon as he had learned it, this fact. My mother…she never forgave me for this…she treated me like rot…"

"Sorry about this," Lance said awkwardly, as he equally awkwardly sat down to him. "My family was no prize either; my father wasn't abusive, he was just – uncaring; he cared more about his social standing and public image than of anything else; my mother had an affair with her sports' instructor, and when I caught her, after I caught her, she begged me not to tell my father; the first time he spoke to me – a week later after that event – I spilled everything. I never saw my mother again."

"I hear your pain," Kara Lynn nodded in the same, mechanical, manner. "Now Yo-Yo – her name is Elena, apparently – she has known Ward for a while, because she'd been in Garrett's team for a while, because her father Horton had known Garrett for a while, and so she is part of the reason why Grant is so good with Spanish – he had to talk to her, in Spanish, on a regular basis, in the past." She paused and added. "And then, after we've met after Puerto Rico, he made the same assumption as you have, and he taught me Spanish, thinking that I had forgotten it after the whole brainwashing event…" she snorted, bitterly, humorlessly. "I never really knew it before, in truth – but after I learned it, I have even developed an accent, similar to what my mother and grandmother had. Go me."

"Well, don't worry – I'm sure that Grant really understands," Lance said, sounding odd to himself for some reason. "Yeah?"

"Yup, and besides – Hydra has to be stopped," Kara Lynn nodded, giving Lance a strange look – she apparently had noticed the odd note in his voice too. "I am going to help Grant, agent May and the others with it – next time, I know this. You? Are you going to help them?"

"Of course I am," Lance replied, defensively. "You're the one sitting here, looking as bloated as an overweight mouse-" he paused, belatedly remembering, that this _wasn't_ Bobbi, meaning that witty banter wasn't her thing, probably, not with him…

Kara Lynn did not appear too upset; she just gave him an odd, enigmatic glance. "I know," she told him in a different voice now – carefully controlled, tightly even. "I won't do this again," she twitched, as she clearly was struggling to keep her sadness and misery now under control. "It's just that Raina…when we were coming here from the national park, she told me that she saw me making a choice in the future. She could not give me any details, so it is frustrating – how can I chose anything, when I do not know what I am choosing-"

"Kara?" Grant interrupted the woman's rant, as he (and May, and Skye, who was walking some distance away from the two of them) emerged onto the scene. "What's up?"

Kara abruptly stopped speaking, turned around, trotted over to Grant and began to speak to him – in Spanish. Lance's Spanish wasn't very good, plus Kara was speaking quietly now, so he couldn't really follow her – but the look that Grant gave him wasn't very friendly, so he decided to leave and go to the kitchen instead, as it'd been planned by him initially, before he got distracted…

/

…When Lance Hunter came to the kitchen, however, it was already occupied – by Lincoln and Raina of all people, as the two of them were sipping tea… and Lance was quite sure that the two of them were holding hands under the table too. Seeing him, however, the two quickly moved apart and shifted around so that they could face him directly.

"Hello," Lincoln said in a neutral tone. "What's up?"

"Hey," Lance grunted, before he sat down across from them. "I could ask you the same thing. What's up?"

"We're doing fine," Raina shrugged. "You, on the other hand, seem to have come across something that you cannot get a grip on. Care to share?"

"What is going on with Kara and Grant?" Lance decided to go for the obvious. "I've seen them interact, even right now. They are genuinely fond of each other, yes, but there is no passion between them, no sexual energy per se-"

"So? You're telling _us_ about this because-?" Raina gave Lance a flat, cold, gold glare. "If you're going to badmouth them, shouldn't you be talking to someone else? For example-"

"No, no, that's not it," Lance twitched as his frustration with himself struggled to get out of control. "I just want to know what is going on with them? I see the two of you – I see a couple in love, kind of like the FitzSimmons, or maybe the director and Ms. Price. The two of them – I do not see it; I do not know what I see it, and it confuses me. I don't like being confused."

"The two of them have a complicated relationship," Raina said flatly. "The two of them have a lot of baggage in the past which cannot be resolved quickly, even if they wanted to. Considering that both of them would rather do it thoroughly…yeah, the two of them will be at it for a long time."

"Yeah? What's about your words about a choice in her future?" Lance challenged. "How do your powers even work?"

"Firstly, the Diviner has reshaped me, it gave me even a differently-shaped brain, just as it did with Daisy, but differently so," Raina did not back down either. "If I concentrate, I can generate what will happen – but takes a lot of energy for me, and the visions are never too specific. Ms. Palamas is coming to a crossroads in her life, fast, and it is up to her to decide where to go." She paused and added, in an unhappier voice. "Well, not just to her, of course – she isn't living in isolation, after all, but the choice, in the end, is hers. Since you're so interested in her, Hunter, don't forget it."

"I see," Hunter was regretting his choice already. He was in a strange mood, he was lashing out at the others, and the closest friends of Grant and Kara were not the best people for that from the start. "So what are you seeing in _my_ future?"

"Well now, my dear, gild my hands and we will talk," Raina spoke in a completely new tone of voice as she pulled out a pack of Tarot cards out of her pocket. "The cards never lie, you know?"

"You're a diviner yourself?" Lance stared. "Or just a con artist, a fraud?"

Raina's smile – now purely mocking – did not waver off her face. "Gild the hands," she repeated brightly, "and we will learn, Lance Hunter, what _your_ future holds. Will you find your true love or will you fail? Will you recover what you lost or not? Doesn't this knowledge cost appropriately?" she wiggled her eyebrows in an enticing sort of way – considering that she still did not look fully human (and probably never would, not without fish pills getting involved once more), the result was more bizarre than anything else. "Well?"

Lance twitched as he had a very strange, but an understandable urge to reach for his wallet – whether because she was an InHuman or not, Raina's sales pitch seemed to be working on him…

"Hey, what are we missing here?" Coulson, followed by Rosalind, chose this moment to work in.

"Nothing," Lance said quickly and fled – he had enough weirdness for the moment.

Raina pouted at his retreating back for a moment and then turned to face Lincoln. "I think that we should go ourselves too," she told her partner. "Coulson and Ms. Price need some time to themselves, I think."

"Fair enough and I want to talk to you too," Lincoln agreed. "Director, Mrs., there's some tea left. If you want to, it is yours," and the two InHumans left.

There was a pause as Rosalind looked anywhere but at Coulson. "They do know that we're not married?" she asked him; the word 'yet' was not spoken aloud, but Coulson, who had his own problems at looking at Rosalind, did not need to hear it either.

"Yes, well, let's cross that bridge when we come to it," he told Rosalind instead, "and, uh, tea? I should warn you – Raina, Lincoln, and their friends make their own tea: it's some sort of an herbal mix, not a proper tea at all… The FitzSimmons seem to like it, though, so maybe we should try it? There's more traditional green and Earl Grey™ tea bags too, if you want, instead…"

"Phil," Rosalind spoke from her position, "please sit."

"…Okay," Coulson nodded and sat across his…new love. "Roz?"

"…Thank you for sticking up for me and with me back at Ms. Garner's. I really appreciate it. I know that this is not S.H.I.E.L.D.'s style, so thank you for going an extra mile for me too. I just, I just I do not know. Do you really like me this much?"

"…Not S.H.I.E.L.D.'s style? What are you talking about?" Coulson decided to focus on a safer part of the conversation first.

"Glen Talbot. The man is who he is, he was never a likable man and he's gotten worse with age, but you did treat him slightly as if he was the sheriff of Nottingham, and you – Robin Hood," Roz smiled slightly, before sobering up once more. "Between this and the mess with Christian Ward S.H.I.E.L.D. still isn't considered very trustworthy in D.C. and otherwise. There are some people who do want to trust you, senator Oliphant comes to mind, but they are in minority. In any case, I admit that I did not expect you to treat me any better than how you treat Talbot, but, well, things went differently, I guess. Thank you for that."

There was a good, long, insightful silence from Coulson, which he broke at last.

"I deserve that," he finally made a decision. "After the mess with Hydra I began to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and we took to the shadows. It worked, but yes, maybe not in all the right ways. I never wanted to be the director, I'm not sure how to be the director, but I had to."

"Considering that you got people like Daisy Johnson and Grant Ward working for you I think that you're doing something right," Rosalind pointed-out, reasonably. "What's the story with him and his people, anyways?"

"It's a part of the mess that happened with Christian Ward," Coulson decided to steer clear of the topic for now, "and yes, about Ms. Garner-"

"Look, I know that she's just an official and all, which makes it rather silly by your standards and all-"

"It's not," Coulson shook his head. "This is different from what we had in California, but still important, and it is connected to California, thanks to Malick-"

"Is he Hydra?"

"Either that or he is just a mad man who decided to fuse with an alien monster, so it's really something of a choice between rotten apples," Coulson shrugged. "Back to you – what you've been doing is just as important as anything that Daisy and her people were doing, plus Raina and Lincoln and their friends came to you first. S.H.I.E.L.D. got a reputation among the gifted people – they, too, don't consider S.H.I.E.L.D. to be fully trustworthy, you see."

"Phil. ATCU became important only when we began to associate with you people."

"Roz. S.H.I.E.L.D. is many things, and Fury has run it differently from me, but I, but I believe in helping people," Coulson looked away from Rosalind – and, unfortunately, right onto her cleavage. "Um, I didn't mean to do that?"

"Oh Phil," Rosalind laughed – and stopped abruptly: apparently, she was not used to laughing in public, though she still was not as bad as the Cavalry used to be. "You are such a man, it seems!" she blushed and looked away, (though still not concealing her cleavage). "So, how about that tea?"

"I thought that you never ask!"

/

"Hey, Daisy," Lance approached the InHuman woman. "Did you see Bobbi anywhere?"

"Yeah, she and Mack left on a scouting mission earlier – you must've missed them."

"…Why Mack? Why not me?"

"For the same reason why not me-"

"No, you've been busy with Melinda and the others working with the Rodriguez woman, I saw you," Lance shook his head. "Since it is a part of _your_ project-"

"It's May's project as much as it is mine," Daisy gave the Englishman a look, "so tone down the attitude, would you? However, as for my point – it still stands. I was busy, you were-"

"I was in the gym," Lance said sourly. "I do, on occasion, toot my own horn, but Bobbi knew about this; plus she's Bobbi. She knows me-"

"Well, Morse is acting weird ever since Ward had agreed to work with us, as did his people; no, actually, it started earlier, back when Lincoln and Raina were selling us their invention, and Alisha and the others had their adventure with the Avengers. Ever since then, Bobbi was acting kind of weird – miserable, even. Hunter, did _she_ want to be an Avenger?"

"I know that she wanted to be something – the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agent ever, maybe even better than the Black Widow and Hawkeye were," Lance admitted, growing genuinely thoughtful. "And then, few years before all of this, she stopped. I do not know what happened to her, not really, though I heard that the Ghost Rider was involved somehow, but after this, yeah, Morse has changed. She stopped sparkling on the inside, you know, and we did get marrying, the first time around. Make no mistake, I love her, she is a wonderful wife, but it just does not seem to work out time after time – for reasons like this one. Did she have to go without not telling me?"

"Well, excuse me, the Great White Hunter of the Year if your little woman has to go off without you-"

"Don't mention it, _Skye,_ " Hunter matched Daisy tone for tone, "it's not your fault, you're just single, when you get a man – or a woman, I guess – of your own, you'll understand. Anyways, where did they go?"

Daisy gave Hunter a piercing look. "On a mission," she growled out. "Look, what is your problem today? First you harass Kara – I don't like her very much, true, but you don't have to go out of her way to upset her-"

"I did not!" Lance snapped. "Kara is feeling under the weather because of her own past. Her mother was an immigrant, Kara's a British citizen, only nowadays no one is treating her like that because she's Kara Palamas, you know, not Windsor, and now there's your metal-bending protégé, and the werewolf, and the human bullet, who _are_ actually from the south countries beyond the U.S., and she's got issues about them and where she fits." He exhaled sharply. "And now I got to apologize to her _and_ Grant for winding her up, or helping her to wind herself up, and Grant just might hit me for the obvious reasons. I certainly feel like hitting myself right now. Excuse me, Daisy, I need to go and apologize."

He turned around and left.

"What has just happened?" Daisy asked herself, and then looked down at the tablet. She paused, thought something over, and followed Lance – just out of idle curiosity, nothing more.

/

Luck being what it was on this day, Lance Hunter _did_ find Kara first – right alongside Grant, Raina, Lincoln, and, surprisingly, the FitzSimmons. "What do you want?" Kara told him, without too much hostility, (but with plenty of sullenness) as she peeked from behind Grant.

"To apologize? I shouldn't egged you on back earlier," Lance winced, before shifting his attention over to Grant. "So, don't punch me in the face? I don't want it damaged."

"Your face? Isn't it your magic penis that you should be worried about?" Grant sighed. "Kara?"

"…Firstly, I was talking to Daisy in the back. Secondly, thank you," Kara gave Lance a small and sad smile. "And thirdly, Grant-" Kara switched in Spanish and she and Grant began some sort of a lively argument: apparently, whatever it was that had been bothering Kara before was gone now, sort of.

"…You know, we could ask you guys the same question," Daisy said brightly to the FitzSimmons. "What are you doing here?"

"Meh, Grant had misplaced his teapot – one that he makes tea in – and he and Kara went looking for it. Jemma and I remembered that Lincoln and Raina had it, they remembered leaving it in the kitchen, and now Coulson and Ms. Price have locked it up – the kitchen, I mean," Fitz began to explain, but Daisy carefully reached out with her vibrations...

"Oh yeah, they're very busy in there," she muttered, blushing in embarrassment. "People, don't go in there – they will never forgive you, and you won't be able to live it down, to forget it, either."

"To forget what?" Melinda joined the impromptu meeting before the closed kitchen. "What's going on here? Is everyone ok?"

"The director and the Mrs. are busy in the kitchen," Raina shrugged, "and we're recovering here. Thank you for asking. What's up with you?"

Melinda gave the younger woman a look. Raina twitched but held her ground.

"So, Phil and Rosalind are in there? Very well," the Chinese agent decided. "And Mack and Morse?"

"On Coulson's mission," Daisy piped up. "Now what?"

"I'm going to order pizza," Melinda decided. "Everyone is invited. It has been a slow day. Elario Carcavera had been mentioned. This calls for pizza."

Moreover, as the others just blinked and thought this over, how Melinda May seemed to be acting OOC here and now, the latter did just that – and everyone was invited.

 _TBC…_


	12. Chapter 12

**Because Raina (part 12)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

…Mack and Bobbi were not lost and misguided. They just did not know where they have ended up at in the general geographic scheme slash layout of Central Asia, which is a completely different kettle of fish. Jantai, their quarry, aware now that S.H.I.E.L.D. was on his tail, was fleeing however he was fancying, without reason or madness he circled and looped around, and the agents, driven by their own ambition, had no intention of letting him go. They have already lost his track once, and now that they have recovered it, they were not planning on losing it away, no sir! They just had to figure out where the old fat fox had fled…

The situation was made more complicated by the fact that the locality was unknown to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents; even their GPS was of no good, indicating that this place was bad, uninhabited, rocky, there were no summer-time pastures, thus the natives didn't go here; there was no sign of wild animals either – so no hunters, ditto. Empty land, useless land: dry, rocky soil almost bereft of grass, scattered stunted trees, crevasses all looking like one another, old, healed traces of avalanches, scattered streams with cold water…

Daisy and Mack were leading 11 other agents, armed with two field weapons, and their horses (here, horses were of more use than vehicles). This was not exactly an ideal amount of people, but they were not exactly facing an army either – half a dozen people at best, after the ambush Jantai's forces had been seriously diminished, so now numbers did not matter as much.

The other agents, for their part, were experienced too, no real rookies this time, so no one was complaining too much. This was not their first time in the mountains, nor in hostile, uninhabited places. In addition, Jantai probably did not know the lay of the land either; he just went somewhere, which gave the pursuers good chances of catching him. Hooray.

In short, they were moving by guesswork, keeping calm and aware that at any time Jantai could lay an ambush and begin firing from his trophy Enfield rifles and Bren light machine guns – out of date, old-fashioned or not, they were still effective and just as lethal as anything that Hydra could throw at them. They did know (they had a compass, and even several), which was north, where was which border of what country, and where Jantai was going to. They did not want to create an international incident, but judging by their neighborhood, this sort of thing just may not happen – the influence of CPR was clearly absent from here, as was the influence of any civilization in general.

The city appeared completely unexpectedly. As it happens in the mountains, a narrow mountain pass (or path?) between two sheer cliff walls suddenly opened into a valley, wide enough for a cavalry parade (pun not intended). In addition, there, to the right and onwards, stood a city. Not a village, a settlement – a genuine city, covered an area of at least couple of miles, and inhabited, too.

"Are we in China's People Republic already?" Mack rhetorically asked Bobbi.

"Not according to the GPS, and does this even look Chinese to you?" Bobbi shot back. "I'm guessing that maybe Lincoln and Raina and the others were holding out on us – this is more reminiscent of Li Shi than anything else."

"I don't know about the holding back part," Mack shrugged. "Remember the Italy trip?"

"I wasn't on the Italy trip – Lance was."

"He didn't tell you?"

"I got distracted by his pantomime regarding the antelope-"

"Yeah, but anyways, I'm guessing that this is a similar sort of community – maybe to Jiaying's old place, maybe to what that Jerome character had, or has, in Italy," Mack shrugged. "Shall we go in?"

"I don't really like the other choice," Bobbi muttered, clearly thinking this over. "Let's go in. However, let's also send the appropriate message to Coulson and the HQ – this should give them an appropriate response window if things go south."

"In these mountains, in this obscure place?"

"Precisely why we're going to do this right now," Bobbi said firmly, "so start sending the message."

Mack looked askance. Lately Bobbi was rather testy – ever since the entire Avengers incident. It was no secret that she once dreamed of joining them, and while she had to shelve her dream when S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen, a part of Bobbi must've gotten shelved with it – and now that things have changed and the Avengers were aware of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s less glamorous side once more, (so to speak), that part of agent Morse was making a comeback…and Mack was along for the ride, in no small part because he too felt somewhat 'shelved' recently: he was never the biggest fan of field missions, but really…

"Let's do this," he said curtly and pulled out their elaborate, modified, all-terrain transponder.

/ / /

…Up close, Mack's feelings of oddity, of out-of-place only increased. Their new discovery, the city in question, did not look like anything he had seen in China, or RF, or Kirghizstan, or elsewhere. It looked like something of out of old history book – but not quite, as neither walls nor towers looked European. It was something else, something unfamiliar: walls and towers made out of long, rectangular stone blocks, rather than bricks, if their size was anything to go by; the towers were elongated and cone-shaped, with notched crowns on top of them. Two of the towers were partially collapsed, (but were still quite solid looking), the top of the walls was slightly weathered, and in one section the walls was collapsed into something like a misfit entrance, revealing the town houses with balconies – again, like nothing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had encountered before. Some were taller, others – shorter, still others did not have balconies, but columns or external stone ladders. In some places, tall, square-shaped towers were rising into the sky (the houses had more cone-shaped roofs instead, complete with shingles). In addition, at both sides of the "gate" stood statues, carved out of some different, darker stone than the rest of the town were, depicting aurochs or oxen, with curved, crescent horns.

Moreover, the town was inhabited – inhabited by the InHumans, though they, unlike Jerome, (or Raina), for example, appeared to be quite human, too. Well, relatively so, between Lincoln and Daisy, Mack (or Bobbi) were not really fooled about the human-like appearance, but nor were they about to start some sort of a fight, not straight away, not with Jantai still at large. Instead, they rode first to the gate, and as the resident InHumans gazed at them from beneath their cyclopean walls, towers, and stone bull statues, and asked:

"Do you know a man named Jantai?"

"No," the InHuman in charge replied. "You're the first people we've seen in a while." His English was passable, but with a noticeable accent all the same. "My name is Arshak, and you?"

"We're agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Mack said with a similar intonation. "This is agent Morse, and I'm agent Mackenzie. Are you from here?"

"My family moved here from Armenia," Arshak shrugged. "Are you from the U.S. or the U.K.?"

"Does it really matter to you?" Mack did not really want to answer this question: Bobbi confessed to him, once, on the Iliad, that she and Hunter had to leave Britain behind in some very bad circumstances, none of which had anything to do with Hydra – more with the thorny relations between S.H.I.E.L.D. and ARC-7. Considering that, even now, there was some bad blood between S.H.I.E.L.D. and FBI, Mack was inclined to believe her…and not to delve on it before people who did not know her story…or were InHumans. "We apologize for bothering you-"

"No bother at all," Arshak said with a small smile. "Please, come in and take some refreshments. It's been so long since we've had visitors…"

Mack and Bobbi exchanged looks. It was obvious by now that Jantai was gone for now – again. It was also obvious that they have discovered a new InHuman settlement, something that Coulson should know all the same – and will know, thanks to them sending a message earlier. They could as well go in and see what was going on here…so this was what they did.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"Can you believe it? Can you believe it? Talbot has gotten Carl Creel to work for him," Skye, or maybe – Daisy, muttered, mostly to herself, as she was going through the data.

Things were awkward for Daisy, that is for sure, and not just because of the obvious. She did not begrudge Lincoln to Raina, in part because the two of them appeared to be almost as bad (or as intense) as the FitzSimmons were, plus there was that entire issue of attitude towards their people: Lincoln still thought of them as something of a disease, or at least something negative, unlike Daisy, while Raina…Raina certainly was in hurry to contradict Lincoln, at least not in public, though according to Leo and Jemma they were in less sync when they were in private instead.

Daisy wasn't impressed: the FitzSimmons themselves weren't above arguing with each other, (but since at least some of these arguments had been about her, Daisy wasn't about to call them on this point), but they were still 'the FitzSimmons', they still did together what needed to be done, and they were something of a team onto themselves – and Lincoln and Raina were going in this direction, too, slowly but surely. Daisy did not begrudge them this happiness, (especially Raina, to whom she did owe something of a karmic debt, here), but it still made her feel alone, lonely.

"How are you doing?" Grant Ward, of all people, looked into the room. "I brought you Chinese-"

"Thanks," Daisy muttered, feeling like she could use a good fight (of all the people). "I hate Chinese, of course-"

"-but you still eat it. It shows," Grant shrugged, gazing an obvious look at the ex-hacker's butt and backside. "You still hate push-ups and sit-ups?"

Daisy whirled around, as she was beginning to suspect herself, that she was getting somewhat bottom-heavy, which was not a good thing for a field agent, but it was Grant Ward.

"You, you, you!" she hissed at the man, feeling an overwhelming urge (and something like rage, but nowhere as intense) to slam him into the wall with her powers. "You may be like a ninja or a cat – you always come back, fine! However, you are not our friend; you are no longer my S.O., so take your advice and give it to – Kara instead. I am sure that she will appreciate it-"

"Daisy, you've _seen_ Kara, correct?" Grant was not amused – or impressed. "She is a very different woman from you. She is like agent May, though _please_ do not tell either of them that I said this: I do not want my larynx damaged again, and I do not know what Kara will do to me either-"

"Why, will the little woman do something to you?" Daisy said mockingly. "She worships the ground you walk in-"

"No," Grant said in a such a voice that Daisy immediately fell silent: the last time Grant had used this voice was back on their first, their very first mission, when the Columbian (or some other South American country, right now Daisy didn't care about this) army had invaded the Bus to get the 0-8-4, and before that Skye (rather than Daisy) had said something really naïve, or perhaps – something that had went really wrong against Grant's grain, whatever his true nature really was. "Kara does not. I am not John or agent Hand. I honestly did my best into making her into a human once more, and I would like to think that I succeeded, even if Raina, Lincoln, and others have helped. Don't compare her to me."

"And you to _your_ S.O.?" Daisy dug in: this was something that was a long time in coming.

"John…" the fight seemed to drain out of Grant. "He was a good man, once. Maybe before he met me, maybe for some time after… I do not know what happened in the Balkans, not truly, for he had been never coherent about that part, but it was bad. He never recovered from it, and as time went, it just got worse. In the end, he did die – he probably had to die – but it wasn't easy, for honestly, Coulson might be the better man, but John? He had been my father in everything that the old Roderick Ward had never been. I know what I have done is – unforgivable or something very close, but I couldn't do otherwise, I just couldn't!" He twitched, and for once Daisy so her interlocutor being in something nearly approaching mental pain, so she kept quiet. "I probably should've made the _other_ choice, but back then I just couldn't."

"And this makes it all ok?" Daisy shot him a look.

"No, it's not. In addition, no, I am not John, not really. I do not know who I am, but I am working this out. I will be probably working it out for a long time, maybe for the rest of my life, but I am not John. Deal with it. Unlike you, I cannot change my names and identity with almost the same ease that my late mother used to change dresses, you know?"

…Maybe Grant was looking for a fight, certainly, Daisy had provoked him, but right now, the fight was out of her, for some reason. "Fine, point," she looked down at the cartoon of the take-out. Chinese, because S.H.I.E.L.D. usually went for Chinese or Greek for their take-out, with Thai being the relatively close third. "So you have some useful advice about my girlish figure?"

"…There is nothing wrong with your figure," Grant blinked, "it's just different from agent May's – she is more like Kara, she uses speed, style and experience to take her foes down."

 _You mean foes like_ you _?_ Daisy wanted to ask but suppressed the urge for some reason.

"You're more like agent Morse," Grant continued with a slight look of distaste on his face when he mentioned Bobbi. "You don't need speed – you already got the strength to do this sort of thing directly, as you demonstrated to me in the Arctic-"

"I used my powers back then-"

"Your approach was still the same; you just incorporated your new skills into the old package. You are a dynamo, Sk- Daisy. You generate a lot of energy and you need to use it up, somehow, or it's still extra weight, the only issue if whether it's muscle, fat, flesh, or something that only InHumans get – I don't really know, this is more of a Lincoln and Raina's thing." He paused. "Of course, there's also the issue of whether or not you _want_ to be a field agent to begin with. I never understood why the director and the Cavalry wanted you to become one in the first place, but they gave me a direct order and I carried it out. Besides…if you had issues with it, you would've told them – to me, to Coulson, correct?"

Daisy looked away, and something beeped on her dashboard. "What's that?" Grant did not bother hiding his curiosity.

"This is a signal of a beacon – of sorts – of Bobbi and Mack," Daisy rubbed her nose. "Fitz got a much longer explanation that goes over almost everybody else's heads. Apparently, it makes both modems and Wi-Fi outmoded and perfect for such places as where Bobbi and Mack are-" she paused, as she thought some more. "Of course, they wouldn't send this if they weren't experiencing some problems or had encountered something new…"

The two of them almost collided as they began to make their way towards Coulson's office.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

Mack opened his eyes. He felt wrong, his body was afire, and his bones felt rearranged.

"Mack! Thank God you're awake!" Bobbi yelled in evident relief as she pressed his head to her bosom. Ok, it was soft, cushiony, and Mack could almost see at least one of her nipples, which was a rather nice sight (it was pink and round, and- she was back with Hunter, never mind), but-

"What is going on? Where are our people?" he turned to face Bobbi directly. "What has this jackass done- it's the Iliad all over again, right?"

"Yes," Bobbi nodded. "Our team, the local guide – number 11, **cough** – they're all gone."

"And us?"

"I was able not to drink, and you… drank."

"What? But I'm alive!" Mack shouted as he got onto his feet, (metaphorically speaking) and looked down onto his hand and the rest of himself. He still looked like his old self, no horns or hooves or flukes or flippers or tail, but he was now blue. Alternatively, purple. Some shade of a color that was in the middle between blueberry and black currant colors, put otherwise. "Oh. Fuck!"

"Not the word I would use, not with Raina the hoodoo girl of the Black lagoon walking around the HQ base, for example, but why the fuck not indeed?" Bobbi exclaimed. "They're gone, after all, and their demise is on our heads."

Mack looked at her: though Bobbi had never been as optimistic as Lance had been, she had never been this bad either. "What's this about?" he asked, "besides the obvious?"

"Isn't the obvious bad enough?" Bobbi said simply. "I'm- I'm-," she closed her mouth and just huddled onto herself, silent now.

"Morse, you cannot give up," Mack said gently. "We did send the message to Coulson, he'll help us-"

"And how will we look him in the eye?" Bobbi glared with one eye that Mackenzie could see. "We're supposed to be _competent_ , Mack! We had _infiltrated their base_ , Mack! Gonzales claimed that _we were better than they, Mack, were_! He was wrong. Agent Hand was wrong. I was wrong."

"…What does agent Hand have to do with this?" Mack blinked. "She's dead, though there _are_ rumors, recently-"

"She never liked Coulson, looked down on him and his philosophy," Bobbi explained. "She, Gonzales, the others – including me and you – were supposed to be better than Coulson was, because we were harder. But that isn't quite true, is it?"

"…Let's talk about this later," Mack said uncomfortably. "Let's first escape-"

"And then what?" Bobbi said bitterly. "I escaped when Hydra tried to take over the old S.H.I.E.L.D., I escaped from Ward and Palamas the first time around, we'll escape now – so what? Coulson was correct, even if he does not himself realize it fully – S.H.I.E.L.D. is not just about the ops and martial arts and everything else; it is a philosophy of some sort, something that we, the so-called 'real S.H.I.E.L.D.' never understood… However, you are right. Let's escape and worry about philosophy later."

There was an explosion from the outside; one of the walls of Mack and Bobbi's cells just shattered, and in came Daisy, framed by the rest of the team.

"Hey, guys! Are you ok…" she trailed away, as she saw Mack's new color. "Oh, Mack! You look like an extra from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!"

"Thank you for this keen observation," Mack said sourly, before turning to matters at hand. "What of the others-?"

"It's like the Iliad, only on a smaller scale."

"All of them? All 9?"

"Yes."

"One of them wasn't one of us, but a native guide. His name was Dil'dash, he wasn't a bad man, and he was a good guy…"

"What about the local InHuman leaders?" Bobbi interrupted him, as she looked around. "And no, I'm not talking about the obvious, either."

"The obvious?" Mack looked around and stared. Jerome used to look like a satyr – hooves, horns and all. Mack used to think that he looked truly bizarre. He was wrong. Apparently, in case of _some_ InHumans the metamorphosis meant that transformed into giant bovine-shaped creatures…with functional wings but still human-like heads. "The Hell? How, how is this even possible?"

"Agent Mackenzie?" Lincoln said simply, sounding even worse than how Mack felt, "we are not the only examples of our kind; we're the most typical, the most common, but there are others. Moreover, the inbreeding, of course, in such a place, well… It produced some bizarre results to be sure." He turned around, and, apparently, saw Mack for the first time. "So, do you feel anything different, other than a general discomfort?"

"No, not yet," Mack said sourly, and turned to Bobbi. "When you say 'the obvious', do you mean-?"

"Them? Yes, but they weren't really in charge of anything, more like muscle, or – living idols," Bobbi nodded. "Arshak was in charge, as well as a bloke named Gaumatha or something among these lines; I don't know what language they were speaking, but it didn't sound very modern-"

"Yeah, we got one of them," Daisy admitted, "and his name does sound like Arshak. Judging by some computer databases, he was some sort of a Soviet agent back during the Cold war-"

"Ok," Bobbi said simply.

Daisy frowned. "Bobbi, you ok? You didn't get turned as Mack had, have you?"

"She's got different problems," Mack spoke before Bobbi could. "Mostly with self-esteem. The fact that we _did not_ get our man is a part of it."

"True, but the fact that you discovered a lost city complete with treasure may counteract it, some," Daisy suggested.

Bobbi blinked, bristled, (but nowhere as much as back when she'd been on the Iliad, or before she'd been kidnapped by Grant and Kara), and then…stopped. "Something like that," she finally said, "and Daisy?"

"Yeah?" the shorter woman said warily.

"Sorry about all that flak I'd given you earlier, back when agent Gonzales was alive and the Iliad was…inhabited and all. You always did deserve a lot better than the suspicion we had given you back then, after Puerto Rico and before Li Shi."

"O-okay," Daisy said, still cautiously, but Bobbi was about done with her, it seemed, as she walked off towards the quinnjet.

/

 _Sometime later…_

"Hey, Mack," Bobbi spoke, still subdued, when the now colored (ok, differently colored) agent emerged from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lab. "How was the Indexing?" she gave him a genuinely apologetic look, not something perfunctory, as Mack had half-expected from her, once. "The FitzSimmons?"

"It went as well as expected, with minimum poking and prodding," Mack shrugged, doing his best to act nonchalantly in front of Bobbi, now that she was herself behaving OOC, "and the Campbells – or they aren't married yet, I'm not sure – helped. I think they are getting along at least on some of the issues. That's good, right?"

"Mmm," Bobbi nodded. "And yourself?"

"Better than Raina with her visions, for example," Mack told Bobbi was no small discomfort. "Where's Hunter?"

"Elsewhere," the Englishwoman shrugged. "Mack, Hunter and I – we've been in a relationship for years, we know, instinctively, when we should be together, and when – apart. Now is the time to be apart. You?"

"Me what?"

"Shouldn't you be seeking Daisy? She's the one with the alternative opinion towards InHumanity or whatever it is called," Bobbi shrugged.

"Yeah, well, she isn't here-"

"She in the gym, alongside Ward, observing Palamas tacking Hunter and vice versa," Bobbi shrugged. "Feel free to go there."

Mack thought about this long and hard, and then he sat down next to Morse. "Why are _you_ there?" he pointed out, not unreasonably.

"I don't want to confront Palamas right now. Or Ward," the blonde woman confessed. "Plus Lance is having fun, for once, and with both me and Palamas in the same room, that would be impossible."

"…I don't know why you two cannot resolve this once and for all," Mack confessed. "You're both agents, after all…"

"Yeah, well, you know what kind of an agent was _I_?" Morse said bitterly. "I was a showpiece, all right? You know, one of those agents who worked in the PR department, rather than the field. I was there for the show – even my S.O. didn't really deny it, though she still trained me – the show must go on and all…"

"Bob, Barbara, that's not true, especially not anymore, not since what we've been through, together, ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen," Mack said with genuine emotion. "Hell, when you think about it, you and I – we're the only ones left from the crew of the Iliad, and isn't that depressing?"

"Yes," Bobbi nodded, "it is. And to make things worse-"

It was then that Coulson's announcement over the HQ's communications system, asking for a main meeting in the meeting room, cut her off, and she, (alongside Mack), went to see what was going on.

 _TBC_


	13. Chapter 13

**Because Raina (part 13)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: no bashing is intended, but this chapter does deal with some adult issues among the characters, so be warned._

…Later on the director Coulson would regret his decision into making this something of a public spectacle, of letting the debrief go fast and loose, something that was not actually done in S.H.I.E.L.D., not normally. This time, maybe because of Roz's now-established presence in his life, he did. And this was what happened.

…It all started professionally enough, when Lance and Kara told as to what has happened in Russia.

"So, the Russian Prime Minister is still alive?" Coulson focused on the positive aspect in the op.

"Yes, and thoroughly ungrateful," Kara nodded simply. "If it wasn't for the nanomask we would've given away the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. angle." She did not seem to be regretful _or_ gleeful about that, just – professional and matter-of-fact. "As it is, the Russian InHuman general is dead; 'so much for Fortinbras', as King Claudius used to say."

"You could have a wee bit more tact," Daisy said sourly. "We're trying to be the good guys here."

"We're dealing with Hydra and co. – they already got the entire wore guy part down pat," Kara shrugged. "Anyways, you didn't have the InHuman go all incorporeal and shadowy on you, and toss you into walls while you could do nothing to it. Grant claims that you think outside the walls, plus you've got the amazing gyrations or vibrations thing, so maybe you would've been able to defeat him, but I'm not a gifted of any sort, so in the end I had to come out of the shadows and do the deed while wearing the mask."

"How did it go?"

"The Russians are thinking that their president, who used to be in KGB himself, came over and rescued his Prime Minister from the wicked InHuman opposition _personally_. Since it is Russia, where the man in power can do no wrong, the natives are eating it up like sugar," Kara shrugged. "We did change their policies slightly – they are pulling out of Syria – but no, we wouldn't have been able to pull this sort of shite in the U.S., for example."

"You could do well with a less cavalier attitude – Hunter's bad enough," Coulson said somewhat sourly. "If you'd been caught, then it would've been the end for you in S.H.I.E.L.D. in particular-"

"Acknowledged," Kara nodded, elbowing Hunter in the ribs. "Anything else?"

"No. Anything else from your end?"

"We were lucky there, actually," Lance admitted. "The Spetznaz wasn't involved – I've encountered them back with Izzy and the others and would rather fight Green Berets than them. There was no sign of any occult defenses that Grant was so worried about either. And there was no sign that the Leviathan was involved."

"The Leviathan?" Coulson raised an eyebrow. "Carter and the others have defeated in the Cold War-"

"And Rogers and the Howling Commandoes had defeated Hydra during WWII before that," Lance grimaced. "Occult is one thing, the possibility of yet another secret society rising up and biting us in the neck is another. Anyways, we're done with the RF for the moment?"

"Yes we are," Coulson decided to let this one go. "Now, Kara, Grant. Can we try to be honest and friendly here? For a long time, our relationship, including the professional part, had been rather rocky with each other. Lately, between the InHumans in Russia _and_ Central Asia, we seemed to have mended the bridges some, and I confess that I would like to mend them further. Maybe we can begin with the issue of Kara's daughter? Grant, if you want to adopt her, I will get the paperwork ready. What do you say?"

This was when he saw the first indicator that things in S.H.I.E.L.D. were about to him some turbulence. Kara's look of professionalism had vanished, replaced by an 'o' look of shock and confusion. Grant's own face, however, was impressionless and professional instead.

"I would rather _not_ have done this in public," he exhaled – sharply. "But since this is us, well…" he turned to his partner. "Kara, you want to do it or should I?"

"You, please," Kara said in a tiny, shaken voice. " _Please_."

"All right," Grant took a deep breath and faced Lance. "So, let's tackle the tiger in the room. Lance, since you're the biological father of the girl in question, you have any objections of me adopting her?"

"…" Lance stared at Grant as if the latter turned into a tiger himself. "Say what now?"

"…You don't remember, you really don't remember, do you?" Kara said in a tiny, deflated voice, looking tiny and deflated herself, very unlike the confident woman that Daisy and the others were used to seeing lately. "You gave me a child and you don't remember…"

"Well, can we have the full story here," Coulson spoke with a sinking feeling, as he realized that this was going to be really bad, "because I'm lost-"

"All right, let's go the full story here," Grant did not look very happy himself. "In the beginning, perhaps, there were Bobbi and Kara, who, as cadets, were somewhat like the FitzSimmons – friends with benefits-"

"Hey! We are not! Friends! With benefits!" Jemma yelled indignantly.

"No, after having been awoken several nights in a row by yelling 'Fitz!' on the other side of the wall very shrilly, you are," Grant gave Jemma a look. "It's _your_ voice too, just more high pitched."

Jemma turned red and fell silent. Leo looked anywhere but at the others.

"Anyways, my point is that Bobbi and Kara were partners and were trying to be a couple," Grant exhaled, "but the problem was that Bobbi's S.O. was Victoria Hand."

Coulson stiffened and began to listen more attentively than before.

"And Victoria," Grant exhaled. "Let's now get to me. Garrett had cooked the books – I never completed military school; he busted me out of the juvie because I was trying to get rid of my biological family the first time around. He needed a personal minion…and I was it. For a while, especially at first before I joined S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Academy, he was having me undergo outdoor training, which was where Victoria and _her own_ S.O., White Bow, found me and began to train me in that."

Melinda whistled. "I remember him. He was a genuine Native American medical man. Technically, he was more of an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D., because he did not really fit in with the regular agents, but because he was always ready to cooperate and to help, quite often he was officially recorded as an agent, or a special agent instead. I do not know what has happened to him-"

"I did," Grant said with a humorless smile on his face. "White Bow, just like agent Hand, was an InHuman, of the same kind that we'd encountered in Sacramento, but much older and smarter than the Sacramento man. As Lincoln had told you, the UnBodied are very powerful InHumans, but they are also barren and rather ghost-like than vampire-like, but they are also body-thieves; for reasons of their own, White Bow and Hand planned to consume my spirit and steal my body for his own use – his old body was getting too old, it was breaking down… Despite all of the training they gave me to get me into the right shape, I had no chance, but White Bow got too confident in his old age, too smart – rather than face me on directly, where he would overwhelm me, the end, he tried to trick me, and I got a chance. We fought in the spirit realm and I was able to mortally wound him… Later on, I built him an arrow bridge to help him get into the afterlife, but it didn't matter – I used up my store of good luck for the next years, that's for sure…" He shrugged and lit a tiny flame in the palm of his hands. "Oh, and I have a thing with fire, too – I always was something of a pyro, I suppose…"

"Is this possible?" Coulson asked rhetorically, but Leo replied to that all the same:

"So _this_ is why you knew what to do back then in Sacramento!"

"Yes," Grant nodded. "Now, me and Victoria developed something of an understanding – I leave her be and she leaves me, but she didn't. Instead, she found Bobbi Morse and got her into S.H.I.E.L.D. as her own protégé. Bobbi Morse was, and is, a good agent, but she is also a specialist – in seduction, rather than assassination, however."

There was a pause as most of senior agents have Morse a look. "Panties on the floor?" Melinda finally broke the silence.

"Sometimes no underwear at all," Bobbi looked very unhappy at this attention now.

"You?" Melinda switched back to Grant.

"Yes. We did several missions' years before the Bus and the Hydra uprising, especially in Africa. I liked Bobbi, but the thing is, she was much more John's type than mine was. John – he really liked big blondes with bouncy boobs, me – not as much, even though I followed his lead with this sort of thing too. Still, we worked well together, I thought that we understood each other, and then, one day, I zagged. Somehow, behind the scenes, Victoria and John had arranged a date between Bobbi and me, but I was never into dating, and I did not even know that it was Bobbi. All I knew that John got me another date with another blonde…so I offered to be his wingman instead on that day…and then along came Bobbi, in her full seductive glory…"

"And you resisted?" Lance said slowly, incredulously.

"You must understand…ever since the Balkans, John was dying, biologically speaking. The cyborgnetics, they weren't preventing his tissues from dying…for the last few years of his life, John was impotent, completely and fully…" (Most men present twitched at this revelation, including Coulson). "And he was a manly man, however you can take it…this state of affairs, coupled with the fact that director over there was 'perfectly proportional' and 'fully functional', according to Raina, it didn't do any wonders for his peace of mind." (The others looked at Raina who just stared back with those gold eyes of hers.) "When he saw Bobbi…I couldn't tell him no…this was the last time I saw him honestly happy and his 'equipment' fully functional. This was when Mason was conceived."

"What?!" Lance twitched. "But I thought, I lately thought-"

"Who's Mason?" Coulson asked quietly.

"Bobbi's son," Lance replied. "He looks a lot like a male version of her. For a while I wondered if Grant here was the father, especially lately, but they don't really look too much alike…"

"No shit," Grant said curtly. "He's John's, not mine at all. But this isn't the issue here."

"No, the issue was that Bobbi and I were a couple, or so I thought," Kara said bitterly. "Then, one day, she shows up pregnant and tells me that the child was Lance Hunter's. I already heard about him quite a bit, and was getting worried that Bobbi was going to dump me for him. Sure, she was the butch one-"

"No, that's you," Bobbi snapped.

"No, you."

"No-"

"Kara, stop," Grant said wearily. "The point is that Bobbi did try to be Kara's wife first."

"That, this, this isn't how it was supposed to go with us!" Bobbi yelled. "I didn't mean to… I did try to be Kara's…partner, her married partner, but I could not. I am effing straight, you see? Lance, he is bisexual, he can do it with both, but I cannot. Not as a person, as opposed to a seduction specialist… I tried to make it work with Kara, her, the yet unborn Mason, and me and I could not. This… this was not I, this was not us. This was I, being stuck as a mother and Kara's wife for the rest of my life. This…this was worse than having sex with John Garrett in a bathroom!"

"And if it _had_ been me, it would've been different?" Grant asked sourly. "Well, yes, it probably would've been – sort of. According to Kara, you are super-fertile due to some natural deviation in the thyroid gland – not a disability per se, but something, so yeah, if you got pregnant from _John_ , you would have gotten pregnant from _me_ too… We _would have_ gotten married, we _would have_ been a family, and our lives _would have_ been different – but that did not happen. Instead, you wound Kara up for months, and then you ran away."

"I had to! Otherwise I would've never left!" Bobbi yelled, tears in her eyes. "This wasn't me! This would have been some strange same-sex version of my parents! This, I, I could not! I just couldn't!"

"So instead you went to Lance Hunter, leaving me behind," Kara's eyes were dry, but her voice was like Bobbi's. "This was worse." She paused and exhaled. "I was angry, resentful, and yes, I can be vicious and vendictful, so I decided to seduce Hunter instead. I found him some time later in a bar, and we had a one-night stand – it was some time later after he and Morse got married the first time around, and he was in a bar…"

"You know, I think I remember you," Lance said quietly. "You smelled like orchids. Your skin was like dark chocolate. Your flesh was soft and pliable, like wax…"

Kara bit her lips down, hard, and gave Lance a flat, unreadable look.

"Anyways," Grant picked up the slack, "she did it. She slept with Hunter here, and if Mason's _is not_ Lance's, Suzy Therese _is_."

"Got any photos?" Daisy could not help but to ask.

"Yes, here" Grant produced a memory stick, and Leo promptly plugged it into a laptop. The stick contained several images, one of which was a boy, about 10 years of age. He did had Bobbi's bright hair and eyes, but even now the physical similarities, especially the face, to John Garrett, were evident. A girl, several months, or maybe a year younger, was holding his hand. She was similar to Kara, but not fully.

"She's got my mother's eyes," Lance's face was twisted, as if from pain. "She's got my mother's eyes…"

"What else is there to tell?" Kara said sadly, bitterly. "Suzy Therese is my firstborn. I, me, when Bobbi and I were living together, tried to get pregnant, because Bobbi was obviously butch and would not get pregnant, or so I thought. None of the pregnancies lasted very long – miscarriages. Agent Simmons, Daisy – our relationship isn't friendly, but I honestly hope that you won't experience one, no matter what our professional slash personal relationship will be in the future."

Jemma muttered something noncommittal, her own face very pale as she imagined going through a miscarriage of her own.

"Lance's child, Suzy Therese, on the other hand, I had no problems with," Kara continued, lost in her own memory trip. "This was why I knew that yes, he had a magic penis," (Lance changed colors very rapidly), "the rest of him wasn't so bad either, and that I was going to steal him from Bobbi. After all, he stole her from me, so yeah, I told her that. Only then, he was reassigned to Hartley's team, and I guess we were still pretending to be friends or something, so nothing came out of it, until S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. Then, Bobbi used her advantage to sell me out to Hydra, to bury me in Hydra and to keep me buried – but I still prevailed… with Grant's help and the others'. I cannot say that I blame her entirely, I guess we did stop being friends sometime before this, and hey, magic penis, but she could've apologized all these months after Whitehall's death and everything."

"Maybe I would've," Bobbi snapped, but her heart was not in it.

"No, you wouldn't," Raina said quietly. "I had visions about this. You never did. You would rather be tortured but not apologize. In the end, it costs you everything – your family, your soul, everything else – but you never apologize. This is why I told big brother here not to bother with you."

" **What**?"

"I had problems of my own," Raina shrugged with pretend nonchalance that fooled no one. "I would either die at Jiaying's hands, or sell my soul to S.H.I.E.L.D., something that I wasn't ready for, not yet. Big brother and Ms. Palamas told me once that I was lost by myself, I had no direction other than the entire InHuman thing, and they were right." She chewed her lips and changed the topic. "And yes, this was when I remembered about Grant. I sent him a letter, offering my life for his, and he replied. He fished me out of the river where Jiaying had dumped me, and patched me up. The rest…you know already…"

"So, now what?" Daisy asked quietly, trying to fill the silence after Raina's own bit.

"Suzy Therese," Kara said simply. "She is very intelligent, she knows already that her father doesn't want anything to do with me or her-"

"Not true," Lance twitched. "I may not be the most intelligent man around, and…I honestly didn't know about her, I didn't recognize you, but yes, you did look familiar, however vaguely… I want to meet her first – **please** …"

Kara stiffened, her eyes intense and almost luminous.

"Tell you what," Grant spoke softly, gently, (primarily to **her** ). "Why don't you take Lance to the island, and – yeah?" He gave her the keys to their plane.

"Thank you," Kara spoke in a small, tiny voice. "Thank you. And – sorry." She turned back to Lance. "Do you really want to meet her?" she asked the other man.

Lance nodded, not feeling very talkative himself for a change. Kara not quite smiled, took his hand, and the two left.

"And now, someone take Morse to the medical wing," Grant spoke in an emotionless voice. "She looks very bad."

Instinctively, the others looked, but yes, Bobbi did not look very good – stiff and pale (almost white) and almost lifeless.

"Right," Mack said firmly, "let's check her out – she was already back since the entire lost city incident, and now…"

In the commotion, Grant left through another door, almost unnoticed.

/ / /

"…So, felt like being by yourself?" Daisy spoke brightly, when she too became certain that she and Grant were alone (she did not want a public scene much either, not right now). "I know the feeling."

"Daisy," Grant gave his former rookie a dark, heavy look. "I know that you aren't trying to mock me, so why are you here?"

"Um," Daisy realized that her attempt at casual conversation was falling even flatter than she had expected, so she changed her approach. She sat down next to him and hugged Grant across the shoulders. "You love her, yes?"

"It was different from you," Grant did not deny this. "We both knew that we weren't each other's first choices, but we thought that we could work with this – maybe we still can, but now…I don't think so, there's this feeling in my gut…" he fell silent. Daisy did not speak either, waiting for him to break the silence again and Grant delivered:

"Skye, why are you here right now? It's over-"

"I told you that I was your enemy, not that I hated you," Daisy said with a weak smile, "though yeah, this isn't a very good explanation," she paused. "I tried getting over you too – it didn't go very well either-"

"Raina told me that in her visions she saw you growing into Jiaying," Grant said slowly, "not literally, more metaphorically, the way ordinary people have it. I, myself, have talked to Cal few times – before Puerto Rico and the entire Hydra uprising: he never cared about differentiating between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra – but that's another story."

"Wait, Cal knew you? He knew that you and John were Hydra and didn't care?" Daisy blinked. "And as for Jiaying-"

"Skye, you hated me and I didn't care. You shot me and I still would've come back for you," Grant shrugged. "If Kara hadn't rescued me after you shot me I would've come back to you and Coulson, regardless of what would've happened to me next. Yes, Coulson was right, this isn't healthy, but neither was your parents' relationship, yet they still loved each other, according to Raina and Lincoln-"

"I don't know," Daisy muttered, remembering some of the last memories of her parents, especially of Jiaying. "They were unconventional, to say the least-"

"True, but according to Lincoln, they also used to have sexathons for 72 hours straight," Grant shrugged. "The popular opinion is that Lincoln either misunderstood something – he isn't very experiencing this sort of thing – or he was lied to. Your parents needed 24 hours to get into position _and_ to recover, so it was more like 48 hours sexathons instead – but still very impressive."

"The Hell?" Daisy spoke, since the concepts of one's parents and sexathons really should not mix, and the feeling between her legs did not help her either.

"Your parents loved each other, maybe still do," Grant shrugged. "I was never close to Cal, and lost track of him after Puerto Rico, but-"

"He killed Jiaying. On the Iliad. As she was killing me," Daisy said flatly.

"And he resurrected her once already, after Whitehall pulled her apart," Grant shrugged. "He once boasted to John and I – this was some time before we picked you out of the van in the alley – that not only he put her back together, he made her _better_. Not even John wanted to learn what Cal has implied here, so yes, my point is that if anyone could bring back your mother again, it would be your old man. They are not normal, conventional, sane, but they love each other. The same goes for me, I suppose. I do not know if I am sane, and I know that I am not normal, but I do know that I love you, Skye, or Daisy, or whatever your name really is. Kara," he firmly made up his mind. "I'm not going to be discussing her with you, especially not while she isn't around. Sorry."

"Well, we did lock you in a vault for 6 months, though May wasn't happy," Daisy muttered, in part to herself. "Coulson overruled her, and I went along with him. Once again, May proves to have more common sense than the rest of us." She looked askance at Grant. "If this is about how Jiaying locked Cal up-"

"The women in your mother's family had been locking their men up for generations, according to Lincoln," Grant said calmly. "Apparently, this is part of their InHuman ancestry. You were just following your instincts. Skye, I love you. I can never hurt you. I do not want to be the next Cal. I do not know if I cannot be-"

"Stop," Daisy twitched. "You're driving me n- you're driving me away, aren't you?"

"Yes. I do not know what to do in regards to you-"

"You're afraid of me?"

"Yes," Grant nodded quietly. "I'm afraid of who'll you'll make into. For most of my life, I had not sense of self; only with John's death did I begin to figure it all out. Skye, I do not want you to be John take II. Please don't."

"Part of me wants to talk how I will allow you to make at least half the decisions in our relationship from now on, and will even buy you something pretty on occasion," Daisy said softly.

"Y-You're not disgusted by my weakness?" Grant looked like he could use some medical help of his own.

"No," Daisy exhaled. "But we are going to talk to Andrew in regards to therapy. "Moreover, Grant, you cannot keep pretending that _everything_ is fine with you. You're _not_ broken, you're just messed up, as _I_ am – but I'm getting some help and so will you. Deal?"

"Ok," Grant replied, still subdued, and they shook on it.

And then they went to check on Bobbi in the medical wing.

 _TBC…_


	14. Chapter 14

**Because Raina (part 14)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapters features characters from the Runaways©…_

"So. How are things at _your_ end?" Melinda May asked Andrew few days later. "How are your new patients?"

"I got regular clients, I got regular pay, I got you, and I still can do lectures from time to time," Andrew replied brightly. "Overall, it's like the last 7 years never happened. True, I am working more intensely with S.H.I.E.L.D. than I would've liked, but it is a different S.H.I.E.L.D. now, so I'm handling it better than I would've expected."

"This is unexpected," Melinda blinked, as she felt honestly flat-footed by her partner's statement. "I mean, you got Grant and Daisy, you got Bobbi and Mack, and I'm not sure about Phil and the Ms.-"

"Grant and Daisy are simple. Technically, they're newlyweds who are worried about how their married life together, they have to face something new together, and lately they tend to be pessimists, so they don't know a positive thing if it fell into their laps. Plus, when faced with a problem, Grant tends to wonder if he can kill it first; Daisy – if she can outrun it, or leave behind, and right now, they know that they cannot/won't do this, so it scares them too…"

"You make it sound so easy, and wait what?" Melinda blinked. "Daisy wouldn't do that-"

"-as an agent? No. As a person, a wife? This is different," Andrew didn't back down. "They're in it for the long haul, they know this, and they're scared about it. All I need to do with them is to talk to them from _our_ experience, and it works. If you would join us it would be even better-"

"I once gave training seminars in S.H.I.E.L.D.," Melinda confessed. "I'm not sure if this is the right thing for me-"

Andrew gave her a look. "Fine, I'll think about it, but only because Daisy's involved," Melinda said crossly. "Mack and Bobbi?"

"Coming to grips to who they are, as well as to the fact that the old S.H.I.E.L.D is very different from this new version," Andrew looked askance. "Identity crises, in short, and it is especially bad with agent Morse. I really want to contact Victoria Hand, if she _is_ alive, or whatever, and give her a piece of her mind. Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a spy agency, but some lines in the sand had to be made-"

Melinda, who had done some background checking on Morse (and Hunter) of her own, especially with ARC-7, held her tongue – as a couple, Hunter and Morse seemed to attract trouble _or_ to generate it on their own, but-

-but that was them as a _couple_ , and _that_ was clearly _off_ the table for now. Neither Lance nor Kara cared to come onto the radar too often, though they did keep in touch with HQ, and told Coulson (and May), that unless a mission came up, they will be staying off the radar for the next few weeks; Grant, who appeared to keep in touch with them, (primarily Kara) by his own means, added that Suzy Therese says 'hi' to him and the others and will be coming to meet them, eventually. Otherwise? Neither Hunter nor Palamas sought to make a splash, which was rather OOC, especially for Hunter…

"Um, agent May?" Grant, (speak of the devil), had actually startled the older agent, having approached her and Andrew softly. Daisy was besides and behind him, looking…looking rather like Skye, when the hacktivist turned agent had been up to some trick.

"Yes, Grant?" Melinda responded, sounding more wary than hostile. "What is it?"

"Your parents took S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new mascot for a walk, and there seems to be some trouble with the police, and they, apparently, don't understand English all over sudden," Grant replied, his own face blank and carefully controlled. "Daisy's Chinese isn't very good, and neither is mine, and we don't really want to prod agent Morse, who _does_ know it-"

"We're going," Andrew brightly told the older couple.

" _We_?" Melinda gave Andrew a Cavalry-like look, who returned it. "Fine. We. Let's see what shenanigans the eldest generation is up to."

And so all four of them went.

/

The suburbs of San Francisco were nice; the golf course in question was green and moist, and adjacent to a small park that even had a lake of some sort in it. The crowd that had gathered in the course, sadly, was not nice, nor was it about golf, period.

"Hey, boss!" the (self-proclaimed) 'agent V' approached Grant and the others, alongside Dr. Powers and his team. "We heard from Ms. Palamas-"

Grant half-turned around and gave the man a look. Although the latter was just as wide as Grant himself across the shoulders, heavier, but that weight was still muscle, all muscle, he blanched and moved backwards.

"What he means," Dr. Powers quickly moved between the two: whatever feelings she had towards 'agent V', she didn't want him to be on the receiving end of Grant's sore mood, "is that you should look _over there_ -"

Grant looked. So did Daisy. So did Melinda and Andrew, for that matter.

"Are those dinosaurs screwing each other?" Melinda blinked. "Come to think of it, where did the _second_ raptor come from?"

"Oh, it's ours," a little girl tugged on Melinda's jacket. "She's Old Lace!"

/

There was a pause, and then agent May turned to Grant and Daisy. "I and Andrew are going to rescue the cops from my parents," she told them in a manner not unlike that used by Daisy earlier, "and you deal with the children over here!" and she rapidly walked over to her parents, followed by Andrew.

"So," Daisy decided to be the outgoing one in this relationship once more, "who are you, and where did you get the dinosaur? We got ours in Greece!"

"Really? Where's that? And we're the Runaways!" the girl said in a friendly style, one that only children her age could get away with. "I'm Molly! That is Chase and Gert and our dinosaur is called Old Lace. What's your dinosaur called?"

"Oh, it may be technically our mascot, but you see the aged couple over there? It's really _their_ dinosaur, and we're not quite sure what they're calling it, 'cause our Chinese isn't that good," Daisy smiled apologetically. "Plus, we're S.H.I.E.L.D. so our names tend to be a bit oogey."

"Oh, S.H.I.E.L.D.," the older girl – Gert – spoke curtly. "We heard of you."

"And we heard of you," Grant shrugged. "Your parents were Pride…but you're not your parents, are you."

"No."

"So, what were you doing here? Agent May's parents had taken their dinosaur for a walk. And you?"

"Oh, we were searching for a magical horsey!" the younger girl – Molly – spoke excitedly, "and we found it, but then she saw Old Lace, and the old people came over with _their_ dinosaur, and dinosaurs don't like magical horseys, so now it is in a tree while the dinosaurs are doing the nasty!"

"Say what now?" Daisy blinked and looked around. Sure enough, a horse of indeterminate breed was huddling high in a tree not far away from where the two dinosaurs were mating…and looking askance at the equine, clearly having not forgotten about it even in all the _other_ excitement.

"Ah, I see." Unlike Daisy Grant didn't appear to be too flustered. "You're right, Miss Molly – magical horseys like this one don't like other animals… Agent V? Can you please get the magical horsey down?"

"Ok, but what about the dinos? I don't want to hurt them…considering who their owners are, I really don't want to hurt them," the other man pointed out.

Grant whistled. The bear-dog, who was something of a mascot for _his_ team, for _his and Kara's_ team, trotted over to them and sat between the dinosaurs and the tree with the magical horsey. The dinosaurs gave the mammal stink-eye. The bear-dog remained unmoved.

"Right. My turn then," 'agent V' nodded without any surprise (to Daisy's surprise), walked over to the tree, walked behind the tree, and shifted in a very, very big wild boar, easily 4 m long and weighing even more. The tusks, which appeared to combining the better qualities of sabres and axes, added even more gravitas to the swine, who lowered his head, clearly intend on upturning the tree by its roots.

The magical horsey clearly didn't like this: it jumped off the tree and tried to run for the lake – but 'agent V' shapeshifted once more, this time into a more hybrid form, rather than a human or an animal one, and grabbed the horsey by the back leg.

The horsey liked this even less: it twitched around and made a sound, revealing – briefly – not very horse-like teeth.

"Mm-hmm," Grant moved over to the struggling combatants. "That's what I thought." He looked in the horsey's eye. The horsey looked back and stopped struggling.

"Please don't hurt it, mister agent!" Molly yelled as she stomped over to the group. "It's just a magical horsey!"

"We're not hurting it, kid," Dr. Powers spoke before Grant could. "Now, why were _you_ looking for it?"

"It's a magical horsey, duh!" Molly shouted. Dr. Powers gave her a look.

"What Molly means," Chase and Gert decided that some interpreting was in order, "that something weird was going on around here…and it's because of the horsey here, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Dr. Powers shrugged. "Magical horseys tend to live in water, and they don't like people very much either…but, my point is that unless you got a horse-sized aquarium back at your home-"

"We do!" Molly said brightly, "it's not like the Hostel, but still awesome!"

"Aha," Gert looked far less enthusiastic than the younger girl did. "Now what did you say magical horseys did eat?"

"Why, the same thing that raptors and similar dinosaurs do," Dr. Powers smiled without any humor herself. "Where did you get it from? InGen™?"

"I don't know," Gert confessed. "My parents, our parents, yes, they weren't the nicest people, but they had been rich and I think I remember the names of Mr. Masrani and Mr. Hoskins as part of their business transactions, before we ran away. Maybe they got Old Lace from there, it's certainly is possible. Considering, however, that my folks were time travellers-"

"You think that it is an original dinosaur, not a modern one?" Daisy finally joined the conversation.

"Yes!" Gert said enthusiastically, before dimming down once more. "Not that it is terribly important, of course, they're still supervillains and all, but yeah…" She looked at the horsey. "We're taking it with us, aren't we?"

"Yes," Molly said emphatically. The horsey wasn't so sure; it inhaled – and then it caught Grant's look and exhaled, clearly deciding that this was a better choice.

And so it was settled.

…As the three Runaways (and Old Lace) took the magical horsey with them, Melinda and the rest of her family moved over to Grant, Daisy, and the rest of Grant's people.

"My parents want to talk to you," she told Grant.

"My Chinese is worse than Daisy's is," Grant replied equally face-on. "Can you interpret between us?"

"It can wait until we get back to the HQ," Melinda honestly thought it over. "Does our dinosaur come from InGen™?"

"No, we told you what we know – just as the bear-dog over here comes from Egypt, so the dinosaur is from Greece, not Italy or some other country."

"I see," Melinda made some mental calculations of her own. "Well, shall we get back to our HQ?"

"And the police?"

"We resolved the conflict with them, honest!" May did her best to channel her own inner Skye. The result was disturbing, so Daisy herself, Grant and the others complied.

/

The ride back home began in an awkward fashion.

"So-o, what do you want to talk about?" Grant asked the elderly couple.

"What's with that 'agent V' character?" Melinda's father asked immediately.

"You know that one of Daisy's people is a werewolf?" Grant countered. "V is like that, only he transforms into a boar instead; he's gifted, basically."

"Ok, and that horsey thing, it was also gifted?"

"No, it was a kelpie; it's what the International Watchers' Council classifies as a subterrestrial, only the kelpie is more aquatic than anything else. Something tells me that the Runaways will be able to handle it, however."

"Who are they?"

"Children of Pride, who were a group of supervillains who practically ran L.A. the same way that Fisk used to run NYC," Grant shrugged. " _His_ powers crumpled after the alien invasion – director Coulson can tell you more about it; Pride…I don't know what happened to them…"

"Um, excuse me, sir," Daisy began: she always felt slightly unsure before Melinda's parents. "But-"

"Don't interrupt!" Melinda's mother said somewhat shrilly. "Men are talking!"

"You enjoyed trolling these cops, haven't you?" Grant said flatly.

"Buh! Cops? What cops! Here were we, taking our pet for his walk, and there were these children, trying to ride a wild horse, when their pet felt envious and chased the horse up a tree! And then they began to fuck each other, just as unneutered dogs do – and the cops, they did nothing! Bah! Probably in the pocket of Wolfram & Hart, those bastards! How do you know about the lycanthropes and the like?" the older man shifted his topic effortlessly.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has run into subterrestrials before; John might've been my S.O., but he hadn't had many problems in loaning me over to Hand, who ran the Index and who dealt with such beings," Grant shrugged. "Plus, if you go out into the field long enough, you may run into anything in the long run, pun not intended."

"You're an honest man," Grant's interlocutor gave him a piercing stare. "How did you end up working for Hydra?"

"I worked for John. My S.O. …he was the sort of man who'd work for anything and anyone to get what he wanted. He was my S.O. though, in many ways he was my father the way that my father wasn't."

"He was still bad."

"Roderick Ward was worse, and I'm…not a carbon copy of either, I…am trying to figure out who I am, and probably will for the rest of my life," Grant shrugged. "Where are you going with this?"

"You want to marry Daisy?" the older man didn't back down. "Make peace with her family!"

"Excuse _me_!" Daisy got onto her feet. "May, can I talk to you, in private?"

"Great idea," Melinda tugged the older woman – her own mother. "We need to have a feminine family meeting." The three women trotted off, with Melinda grasping firmly both Daisy and her mother by their sleeves.

"…Would you believe me that I had no idea of this," Andrew carefully told the younger man.

"I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt," Grant told him flatly, before softening his tone of voice. "Now, do _you_ have any questions for me? Professional ones, preferably?"

"Well," Andrew gave his own father-in-law a look. "Maybe you want something to tell me?"

"You're helping them, you do?" the latter asked, simply.

"Yes," Andrew nodded. "In some ways, Grant and Daisy are unconventional, but in the ones that count? They're a young couple who are in love with each other and want to make it work. They know that they can live with other people, they just want to live with each other, regardless."

"That's love, sure enough," Andrew's father in law nodded. "A family, my boy, is a very tricky thing. Love makes it easier, sure enough, but what is love? No one knows, though the sages have ideas, each sage their own. You cared for this Ms. Palamas woman, I could see it, my wife could see it, but it's different with our granddaughter, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, but as you said just now, what is love? It's different in every case," Grant gave the elderly man a look of his own. "Coulson once called my love an obsession. Maybe he is right. I don't know about _that_. What I do know is that I do love her, I know that she isn't perfect, but I still want to make it with her, have a family. After all, I mean, as far as people go, I'm not perfect either-"

"Is there any other criteria?"

"Yeah. Agents," Grant told him flatly.

"Ah, so you figured out what my wife and daughter took twice as long in doing," the elderly gentleman nodded. "Good for you! My daughter…she had a thing for director Coulson…yes…it isn't pretty. What do you know about the Price woman?"

"I didn't research her and have no intention of doing so," Grant shrugged. "I do remember seeing her photo once – both John and Sunil Bakshi had been involved, so I know that Hydra was involved with her somehow."

"Yet you claim not to be Hydra."

"Not anymore, no," Grant said simply. "Not after I saw what Hydra does to people like Kara. Sir, I don't know you, but I wouldn't wish brainwashing on anyone, stranger or otherwise. It's bad. And the physical abuse, which is a regular thing there too, is bad also."

…It was at times like these that Andrew regretted having never really learned Chinese: for all of their national pride, his in-laws, as well as his wife, were as patriotic towards America as…well, Phil Coulson, for example, and never really pressed on anything ethnically Chinese onto him, or his parents, back when they were alive, so his grasp of that language was nowhere as good as one could assume. Take for example the _current_ situation, where his father-in-law was muttering something under his breath, and Andrew couldn't really follow, though he tried.

"…So!" Daisy said simply as she sat down next to Andrew. "I've been honorably adopted. Yay!" she got up and sat next to Grant instead. "I'm grateful, really, I am. I'm just – overwhelmed. The timing…yeah, it sucks," Daisy muttered. "How are you holding up?"

"I've talked to Dr. Powers and the others, after the whole mess with the magical horsey," Grant said nonchalantly. "Kara and Lance are coming over to HQ – with Suzy Therese and a few friends on an S.H.I.E.L.D. tour – you know, to show the children what the grown-up agents do."

"Oh," Skye said nonchalantly.

"She – and Hunter – want to talk to me, Raina and Campbell in private. She told me that you can come too. She doesn't like you very much yet, I'm afraid."

"What is the relationship between the two of you?" Daisy's new grandfather asked, quietly.

"We never interacted sexually," Grant shook his head. "Kara _had_ been abused, as I told you, so her mind wasn't into it, to put it lightly, and I never pushed it. We did plan to marry, Suzy Therese…I do not really know where to go from there…and when May and Daisy and Mack picked us in the national park, Raina told Kara that Kara would have to make a choice in the future. I guess that Kara made it." He paused. "And if you want to know about Kara and Hunter, ask May – she was there too."

"She was and she did tell us about this," Melinda's mother nodded. "It's a sad story. Agent Morse – she is a sad woman, adrift without landmarks. You," she jabbed her finger at Grant, "have made mistakes and have paid for them, and have moral landmarks. You went against yourself and paid for it, rightfully, at least to a point. Those poor FitzSimmons! But Morse – she got no landmarks, she constantly tries to jump the right way-"

"Bobbi's loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Skye said quietly, "is unquestionable."

"And this makes it ok what she did to the others?" the older woman shook her head. "Fury was a good man, but for him it was all the great game with no end in sight. The game of thrones, the game of shadows, whatever it is. His people were like him, but no one could be truly like him, so they all sunk. Coulson…yes, he's Coulson. I've heard Raina. She might be onto something-" the elderly lady caught Grant's look, caught Daisy's glare, and returned to her original topic. "He got landmarks, he got lines in the sand, as you do, as we do…even Andrew." Andrew just gave his mother-in-law a look. "So now agent Morse's got to figure out how to live…with moral landmarks. Agent Mack can help her with this, right?"

"Yes, I think he wants to, and so does agent Morse," Andrew replied. "However, with her, it's much like Grant and Kara – for her, Hunter was the first person outside of her S.O. for whom she genuinely had feelings for, so now she's confused – seriously, how she feels about him, Mack, Mason-"

"Mason is her son?"

"Yes. Lovely boy, according to all the records," Andrew nodded. "Looks like Bobbi, looks like his father, too. Under these circumstances, however-"

"Mack's first girlfriend was Anglo-American, so don't be so pessimistic," Grant shrugged.

"Mack has a girlfriend? Really?" Daisy half-turned around to face her…significant other.

"He _had_ a girlfriend. She was one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the Iliad. 2-3 years before the Bus, S.H.I.E.L.D. was helping the king of Wakanda to defeat his enemies, the White Ape Cult. It was a general, military action, more suited to WSC than to S.H.I.E.L.D. It didn't matter, but I was part of the team who used the Iliad as the aviacarrier. It was then that I met Mack, Morse, and the others. Mack's girlfriend was agent Fay – she was about your age," he turned to Daisy, "but she and Mack got along well enough. Then she met a son of one of Wakanda's politicians and chose him over Mack. The rest is history. There _were_ agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Wakanda, Fury ensured that, but…no one of them came out of the woodwork after Coulson began to rebuild it," Grant shrugged. "The rest is history, really."

"Fair enough, and Mack always did seem to have a soft spot for Barbara," May nodded. "Of course, he was often slightly lonely among us, so yeah."

"Well, I do remember him mentioning about a younger brother during one of the sessions, but he isn't in S.H.I.E.L.D. so Mack and he probably got some differences to work out, and he doesn't know about Mack's transformation either," Andrew admitted. "Mack has changed his stance on gifted people, but his own transformation…well-"

"Bobbi is helping him," Daisy muttered. "The FitzSimmons told me." She actually saw glimpses of it herself, but because Bobbi and 'Alphie' began to frequent the lab, which nowadays contained not just the FitzSimmons, but also Lincoln and Raina, Daisy started to avoid it: she saw Raina's eyes whenever the she and Raina were in the same room that Lincoln was, and she didn't like what she saw – a very feminine version of fear. Daisy had certainly become bad-ass, but recently she was beginning to understand the downside of it. "They got this weird thing going on-"

"Because Raina told them that they are going to have a daughter, who looks like Jemma, but with Leo's colors, and a son," Grant misunderstood Daisy, maybe deliberately. "Apparently, there may be two more children, but a daughter and a son for sure. So now the FitzSimmons are figuring out if they want to get married first or what. Raina did love to wind people up before Li Shi, but now she has largely stopped and I think that her vision of the little FitzSimmons, the next generation, was genuine."

There was a pause as the others thought about it. "Leo and Jemma will have children. Hah," May thought it over. "This is a good idea. It certainly explains why Jemma had been screeching out 'Fitz!' very shrilly last night from their room."

"You sure it wasn't us?" her mother asked with an innocent look upon her face.

"Excuse me," Alisha, who had been actually flying the jet in question, entered the main chamber. "But we've landed. Grant, can we go and get debriefed now?"

And this was what they did.

 _TBC_


	15. Chapter 15

**Because Raina (part 15)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains material and dialogue that may be OOC for some readers. If you want to read on, remember that you have been warned._

"Ah, the glamorous world of an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," Grant muttered some time later, as Daisy and he, (plus the back-up team), made the tracks through an alley – a rather dirty and nondescript one. "The last time I did that was in Florida, just before I was sent to Paris, and then – onto the Bus, where I met Coulson, you, and the others. I forgot how varied this sort of thing can be."

"Are you bitching or making conversation?" Daisy spoke nonchalantly, in part thinking over her own thoughts over the last conversation she had with Andrew. "'Cause I'm honestly hoping for the latter."

"Correct," Grant nodded, "I'm trying to cheer you up – whatever it is that you've learned from Andrew recently has got you down, a lot too."

"Apparently, when it comes to relationships, I've got no staying power," Daisy muttered, "I'm a sprinter, not an endurance runner. I am about the chase, not the long haul. I was more into getting you than into keeping you…" she trailed away. "No, not exactly. I did not mean that. It's just that, now that we've got into a relationship, now what?" she blinked. "No, this isn't what I meant either!" she all but yelled in exasperation.

"No, I think I understand what you're saying," Grant shrugged. "You're all about mobility and staying in charge. Miles – I do not miss him – he kept a box of your things in one of his backrooms. I looked into it, I admit. You were never just a hacker, were you? Blue Cat Club must be really missing you-"

"…You know," Daisy muttered, as her cheeks turned red and hot from embarrassment, "many men would be turned off by the fact that their crush is a dominatrix on the side. Sane ones, anyways."

"Daisy, I killed people for a living on a regular basis," Grant shrugged. "S.H.I.E.L.D., of course, had no problems with me doing that and paid me a salary on a regular basis, but this isn't the point right now. The point is that I may not be a monster, but neither am I sane, at least by conventional means, either. Why, do you want your old belongings back?"

"Yes," Daisy admitted. "I do." She looked away. "It's messed-up, I know-"

"I am not the best man to judge that; maybe you should run it by Andrew and Melinda instead?"

"Right, or how about DC and the Mrs.?" Daisy muttered. "That's just what they need to know – that one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents is into kinky stuff – a lot."

"Why not?" Grant shrugged. "They're dealing with Bobbi, who – as a _seduction_ specialist – was much more into kinky stuff than you would realize."

"Yes, but I don't mean this as a specialist," Daisy yelled. "I mean more as a person! Why are we even having this conversation? Most people tend to just go away when talks turn to BDSM, you know?"

"I'm not like most people," Grant shrugged, "and I'm willing to try this at least, though perhaps in a small dose at first?"

Daisy dropped. "How and why?" she muttered. "I'm the S.H.I.E.L.D. one in this relationship, I'm supposed to be straight-"

"Hunter's bisexual, for example, and I know that Coulson and John had once made a porno starring them back when they were cadets," Grant shrugged as he walked over to Daisy. "How's that for straight?"

Daisy straightened and looked Grant into the eye (upwards, perhaps, because of the difference in their height, but still). "You're very good at this cheering-up thingy, you know that? Weird, but good. I like weird. I love you too – a lot. It's just that you really enjoy conventional, and I, well-"

"I love you back," Grant shrugged. "Johnson, if we're trying to shock each other, what do you think about having children in the future?"

"I would like that," Daisy gave him a look. "But I'm not sure if I could be a good mother – at least in a conventional meaning of the word-"

"In the past, I have talked to Cal. Jiaying wasn't a conventional mother, or wife, either. In fact, I suspect that your love for kinky comes from her and her mother, and so on – but she loved Cal. She loved you."

"She tried to kill me when she went crazy," Daisy argued, "but yeah, this isn't your point, is it?"

"No," Grant admitted, "it isn't."

"I hate to interrupt this version of J. Prufrock's love song," Lance Hunter spoke, as he and Kara walked into the alley, "but we found this character skulking around-"

"Ah, Mr. Guiterra," Grant spoke with a guarded expression on his face. "What do you want now?"

"To hire you once more," the Asian man spoke nonchalantly, "to kill Mr. Malick, I'm afraid."

There was a pause and then Kara promptly knocked him out. "What?" she asked. "Grant made a sign-"

"We need to put him into some sorts of restrains ASAP," Grant muttered, "maybe the stasis pod that ATCU was working on?"

"We got a better version by now," Skye muttered back. "How do you know him?"

"Not the way you think," Grant muttered. "He works for North Korea's government."

"Say what?"

/

"You know, I'm surprised that you're surprised," Coulson told Daisy later, when Guiterra had been safely restrained. "I mean, we've already learned a while ago that the president of Cuba has no problems hiring a werewolf crime family for _his_ forces, why should North Korea be different?"

"So sue me, DC, I still haven't mustered the knack of thinking on an international scale," Daisy muttered back. "This is why you're the director, remember?"

"This is very flattering," Coulson cast a glance at the restrained Guiterra, "but first things first. Ward, you know him how?"

"Garrett once liaised an arrangement between AIM and the North Korean government," Grant replied. "I was there as his aide. The arrangement was a success. One of AIM's major bases, maybe one of its last major bases, is located there."

"…You're really trying to be a new man now," Coulson spoke after a pause. "A more honest man, for a start."

"I think I finally figured out what sort of a person I am, and what sort of a person I want to be," Grant admitted, "but it's still tricky, yes?"

"Fine," Coulson agreed, "and Guiterra?"

"He isn't very good with explosives, but is a very decent shot, especially with an AKM, so the fact that he came to me implies that Malick no longer can be killed by bullets," Grant grimaced, "at least not by ordinary ones. Plus, he is a telekinetic, remember?"

"True," Coulson nodded, before switching his attention to the captured NKSOF (or whatever). "You're interested in dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"This wasn't my idea to begin with," the Asian InHuman replied his voice shaky but steady. "Our leadership is worried about Malick's new transformation; his behaviour has grown erratic, and our allies in London are worried about it."

"AIM?" Coulson turned back to Grant.

"Yes. AIM's leader is Genevieve de Veux-"

"Isn't that the name of Britain's PM?" Daisy asked as she re-joined the others with a tablet in her hand.

"Yes, and she's a self-proclaimed nanotechnological cyborg, too. She has several robotic bodies and can supposedly alternate between them by Wi-Fi or something similar," Grant admitted. "Considering that she is also fond of skinning people who displeased her alive and stuffing their skins with straw, I didn't get involved with her too closely. Are the coordinates for 'Castle Olaf' that I gave you correct?"

"Well, yes, but the thing is that there are two bases, one at your coordinates and the other one nearby," Daisy replied. "Considering that this base is much more heavily disguised, I think that it's the real one."

"So, either John got tricked too, or it's just me," Grant shrugged. "I still stand by my statement – even S.H.I.E.L.D. will need the Avengers' level of help if he is to tackle this."

"So, let me get this straight," Coulson muttered, mostly to himself. "AIM has brokered a deal with North Korea; North Korea's role is mostly that of a landlord; AIM pays it 'taxes', partially in its' inventions and partially with the British money; no wonder, then, that North Korea has begun to stretch its muscles lately – with this sort of support!"

"Yes, and the fact that Grant kept mum about it doesn't help any either," Hunter, (who and Palamas had joined the other three currently), glared at the bigger man. "I thought that you were going for an honesty approach, here?"

"I'm not very good at this, still," Grant spoke in a monotone, "plus there's that entire secret agent bit. I mean, you have not been volunteering to tell anyone why you and Barbara had to leave the U.K. in a very bad way the first time around either, have you?"

There was a pause, which was finally broken by Hunter. "You're really trying to be a decent human being, aren't you?" he told the other man. "Well, maybe with Daisy's help you will be able to pull it off. Moreover, as for the U.K. …yeah, I admit, it was bad. Morse got me selling out U.K.'s military secrets to S.H.I.E.L.D. …well, maybe she was wrong, but that is just worse, you know?"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Daisy asked with genuine interest.

"I'm not sure. I will probably have to talk to the director…well, just not _here_ ," Hunter muttered, looking askance at the man in question. "Plus, I will have to talk to Bob…about it…even in the past it wasn't the best topic, and now…"

"Speaking of you and agent Morse," Coulson carefully began, but did not finish, as Hunter's comm.-link came to life with Jemma on the other end seriously upset:

"Hunter? Palamas? Your pet not-a-monkey is making a mess! Get your butts over here! Now!"

There was a pause as the others just stared at Lance and Kara who just stared back, somewhat sheepishly. "Did we forget to mention that we've made another breakthrough with my old case?" Kara smiled, meekly and weakly. "And it had let us to Madagascar?"

"No, you have not," Coulson said flatly. "What'd you bring from there – this time?"

/

The lab (well, the current/local lab, but still) was a mess. It was a mess, complete with a monkey, or a monkey-like creature (well, an ape-like creature, since apparently it had no tail, and was built more like an ape or even a gibbon than a monkey), which was currently sitting on the back of Leo Fitz and making…not a mess – on the contrary, it was currently grooming Leo and enjoying that, too. "We found it on Madagascar, just as we have found the bear-dog in Egypt and the deinonychus in Greece, as examples," Kara said weakly. "Maybe we can give this one over to ATCU?"

Coulson thought this over; he remembered meeting Ms. Helen Garner; he thought about Roz, who still was not much of an animals' person, (come to think of it, the same went for him), and made-up his mind. "Absolutely not. I'm not sure what kind of a monkey or ape this is, but I don't think that we'll be giving it up-"

"Well, technically, the World Wildlife Fund chapter on Madagascar is very interested in it," Kara spoke carefully, "but we decided to run it by the FitzSimmons first, yes? Leo was talking about a monkey-"

"Leo always talks about monkeys," Jemma said crossly, "and this is a species – well, a _specimen_ \- of a prehistoric lemur instead."

"No, I saw lemurs – on _Madagascar_ the movie," Lance shot back. "They look like monkeys. This guy is more of an ape."

"Lance Hunter? _You're_ an ape," Jemma glared. "This is a _prehistoric_ lemur, a palaeopropithecus-"

"For real? You're not making it up?" Grant could not hold back, as the prehistoric lemur reached over, and began to groom Jemma, while still sitting on Leo – it had arms long enough to do that physically.

"Nuh, mate, sounds about right," Lance said brightly, as Jemma tried to deal with her new development. "We found him on Madagascar, you see? The people over there have some weird perceptions regarding names – the longer is the better in their opinion."

"Lance blames it on the Welsh," Kara spoke cheerfully, cutting-off Jemma _again,_ (and on purpose, very likely).

"Well, duh – as soon as I heard that the missionaries that had come to that island first were Welsh, everything made sense again. The Welsh have invented that concept – the longer a name the better it is. Remind me to tell you about the time when I was a little lad and my father – my family had this 'bright' idea of going to Wales on a vacation: needless to say that we never repeated this experience. Civilization, my ass-"

"Okay, and thank you, Lance, for this not-quite-funny Monty Python sketch!" Coulson said brightly. "Now, about the monkey, or the lemur, or whatever it is?"

"Well, I think that it wants to groom you next," Leo said brightly, also intent on making the best out of a bad situation. "You want to?"

"No, pass," Coulson said flatly. "Now, we need to talk. We may have an inside way and a way in to Gideon Malick, so-"

"Why talk to us?" Jemma snapped.

Coulson shot her a look.

"Oh, right," the British scientist-agent nodded sagely. "He is an UnBodied InHuman now. Leo, how's the new prototype coming along from your end?"

"Well, I made quite a bit of good work in the last two weeks or so, but I don't think that it'll be ready anytime soon. Maybe in a month or so," Leo confessed. "Grant? Any ideas-"

"In theory, if we destroy Malick's physical body, his energy self would be vulnerable to Daisy and Lincoln and any other kinetic InHumans that we will be able to find by then," Grant thought this over. "The problem is that he can always steal another body in the process, or make one from scratch, through sheer willpower alone. The good news is that the UnBodied are naturally vulnerable to sunlight, if we can expose Malick's energy body to sunlight long enough, it will disintegrate, but the trick here is 'long enough', and I'm honestly certain that we wouldn't be able to do that _without_ a hitch."

"Wait, sunlight?" Leo frowned. "In Sacramento- wait. In Sacramento, there was this mammoth storm-"

"Yeah, the UnBodied there has created it, and he didn't have a long time to practice his powers – otherwise Daisy wouldn't have been able to defeat him so easily-"

"I defeated him so easily because I had help, including yours," Daisy flatly, "but, FitzSimmons? It would be nice if you did speed up a bit, because I will probably need practice and training to use it. Last time was somewhat sticky for me, at first, metaphorically speaking."

"Point," Jemma agreed, after she exchanged a look with Leo. "Now get the palaeopropithecus out of our lab and we'll get onto it."

There was an awkward pause. "We have no idea where to put it," Kara finally admitted, "unless you consider sending it back to Madagascar?"

"Mmm, maybe," Jemma said, trying not to look Leo Fitz in the eye. "We'll think about it. Can we hear more about Malick?"

"Excuse me," Raina entered the lab, cautiously looking at the prehistoric lemur, "but we've Indexed the man that Grant and Daisy were sent to capture before Guiterra had distracted them. Want to see the results?"

They did.

/

"So, this is Charlie?" Daisy sceptically asked, (despite her better intentions), as she examined the data. "He is a psychic, like you?" she asked Raina, trying to keep her tone of voice carefully neutral: Raina still was not a good friend to her and vice versa.

"Something like that, yes," Raina replied in kind. "We really need the FitzSimmons expertise with the machinery to further confirm or deny this."

"Oi! I am a biochemist, you know? 'Machinery' is more of Leo's thing!" Jemma protested, indignantly.

"Oh. Is this why you have an ape sitting on your back and grooming you?"

"No, this is our doing," Kara spoke, politely, to the InHuman woman. "And how are you doing yourself?"

"Ms. Palamas!" Raina noticeably perked up. "You came back?!"

"Yeah, have been working on a new piece of the metaphorical puzzle – the previous one took me, and Lance, over to Madagascar. This one, apparently, indicates Australia," Kara nodded. "Want to come with us? You and Lincoln?"

"I was told by big brother over here," Raina carefully jammed her finger towards Grant, "that you will be staying here?"

"Well, yes, especially since we've got an in towards Gideon Malick," the older woman shrugged. "I'm asking in reservation for the future?"

"Well, we will think about it," Raina looked askance at Coulson. "Sir, speaking of visions-"

"Phil," Andrew walked in, looking shifty and uncomfortable, unlike his usual self. "Did you know that your Mrs. is pregnant?"

There was a pause and Coulson had a sort of a mental shutdown.

"Oh, this is whose test it was," Jemma said sagely. "For some reason I thought that it was Melinda's? Well, never mind," she added hastily, seeing the look on Andrew's own face. "Let's get the director to the infirmary – we have ammonia there."

"No need," Coulson said flatly. "I'm conscious and in control of my facilities, so if the FitzSimmons can take their dream monkey off of me and let them let groom someone else, like Charlie, I would go and talk to Roz right now-"

There was a pause. "I think that the lemur, whatever its' scientific name is, is afraid of Gifted," Lincoln said carefully. "I think that it takes you for your father figure now or something."

"Oh, is that what the lemur is doing?" Coulson said crossly. "Of course. Once, S.H.I.E.L.D. had this mystique, you know, this reputation-"

"And Bobbi Morse was supposed to embody this reputation, besides others," Kara shot back. "She got lucky – she fell in with you, director, and your people. Others fared worse."

There was a pall as no one was sure exactly how to tackle Kara on this topic, so Kara herself filled-in the gap.

"Director Coulson," she said simply. "Nowadays, my memory has gotten much better, so I remember the old S.H.I.E.L.D. It is different from what we have now, whether or not Grant, others, and I are included. It is a good different, sir. I'm sure that Fury would be proud of you."

"…Right," Coulson said carefully. "I'm going to talk now to Roz, shall I? Thank you for your talk, Kara; I did need something like that." With these words, he left.

"…You think that he forgot about the lemur?" Daisy asked sometime after.

"It's Coulson. Who knows?"

/

"Roz?" Phil's voice was unusually subdued and quiet, even in lieu of latest events (the big Hunter-Morse-Palamas-Ward blow-up). "Can we talk?"

Rosalind Price stopped doing whatever ATCU business she was doing and looked at him. "Yes?"

"You're pregnant."

"For two months by now, yes," Rosalind did not bother denying it. "Melinda told you?"

"Andrew, actually. Why?"

"I'm scared," Rosalind confessed. "I may be younger than you are, theoretically at least, but I am still old. I was pregnant once, I have a grown-up daughter nowadays, but I was younger back then."

"You have a daughter?"

"She is about Daisy Johnson's age or slightly older," Rosalind said with a faint smile. "Marion Starr St. James."

"Named after Robin Hood's lady Marion? Or is it Marian? I do not really know Robin Hood very well."

"You can always find online these days," Rosalind pointed out. "But yes, she is. I was always something of an Anglophile; my husband, on the other hand, was all-American – you have seen his belongings. This didn't make life any easier for both of us."

"How did it work?" Coulson asked – Rosalind had not talked much about her late husband…or any other family that she have had in the past.

"Marion helped, from a certain angle. I heard how Kara Palamas' father walked out on her and her mother because of her gender; my husband did not. He and Marion were much closer to each other than to me; plus, Marion takes more after her father than after me."

"Did she inherit the family business? Is she in ATCU?"

"My husband was associated with Hydra," Rosalind spoke slowly, miserably. "So was my brother. So was I. In time, after a certain incident in Ireland, my brother and I severed ties with them – mostly, but not enough, not back then. Back then Hydra was less prominent, less notorious than now," she exhaled, "so my brother didn't see too much of a problem associating with it, more or less. Neither did I. Neither did my husband, for that matter."

"And now?" Coulson spoke, quietly.

Rosalind gave him a look. "Ask your agents – am I stealing your secrets for the sake of Hydra and Malick?"

"No, but this isn't what I mean," Coulson exhaled.

"Perhaps, but I still isn't," Rosalind said firmly. "Now about you. You have any family?"

"I had a woman once, Audrey. Now…she thinks that she is gone, thanks to the aliens and Loki and the others," Coulson said bitterly. "And then…"

"Yes?" Rosalind asked, even as she reached out and took Coulson by hand (his real one, not the prosthetic).

"Curtis."

"Who?"

"Audrey and I were in a relationship for a while before the battle of New York. We had a child, his name's Curtis. He is six now. I was going to semi-retire and take a desk job closer to Audrey so that the three of us would be a proper family. Then – I died. When I returned, I eventually discovered that my memory had been altered, not to mention my DNA, or whatever the fancy term that Simmons uses-"

"Is this why the monkey seems to be so attracted to you?" Rosalind asked, as the lemur stopped working on Coulson and moved onto her.

"No, this is something Hunter and Palamas brought from Madagascar," Coulson rubbed his nose, "it is probably the same as the raptor or the bear-dog, whatever 'it' is. They have been thinking of handing it over to you – I mean, the ATCU, or maybe to the World Wildlife Fund department back on Madagascar, but I admit that the little guy is growing on me, plus we have the same profile," he chuckled, looked at the lemur, and grew serious once more. "Then again, so does Curtis, though the braces make it harder to see. Fury wanted me to make S.H.I.E.L.D. anew, _after_ it had fallen, but _before_? I think that he did not want me to be distracted, whether or not he and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. needed me more than ever. Now, Audrey thinks I'm dead and doesn't even remember Curtis at all – the T.A.H.I.T.I. got to her too, and Curtis, for half his life by now, was practically an orphan with both me and Audrey alive and well."

"Where is he?"

"Alongside Suzy Therese, Mason, and other children of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents," Coulson nodded. "The location's classified-"

"Ok," Rosalind nodded. "Will you be spending time with him now?"

"Hell, yes," Coulson nodded. "I didn't even remember him when I approached agent Schvangenschwantz and her staff regarding Suzy Therese. Hearing about him and him being my son shocked me into remembering him almost immediately, but it did not make this any easier. Kara had told me earlier today, in regards to the lemur, that 'my' S.H.I.E.L.D. was quite different from the 'old' one. Bobbi – after the lost city incident – had told me something very much the same, too. Roz, I- I do not think this is what Fury intended; this was not something that _I_ myself had intended either: I just wanted to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. to its old glory, not remake it anew." He paused, took a breath and continued. "Instead, I may've began to do just that. Do you want to help me?"

"Yes," Rosalind nodded.

"Do you want to marry me?"

"Yes. And do you want to marry me?"

"Yes," Coulson nodded. They kissed each other, on the lips, but-

But then the prehistoric lemur got bored and farted. Loudly. Pungently, too.

"…The fact that new S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to be – in part – something out of a Gerald Durrell's novel is something I could've lived without," Coulson confessed, as he and Roz left the office, (frantically followed by the lemur). "In other news, we may have an in into Gideon Malick's circle. Do you want to participate?"

Rosalind just nodded, looking happier than she had in the last few weeks.

 _TBC_


	16. Chapter 16

**Because Raina (part 16)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this story contains content from Jurassic Park™ franchise._

The airplane landed softly in an airstrip in an airport. "…I forgot that sometimes flying legal is fun in on itself," Daisy said simply. "Sneaking around is sneaking around, but this? I can do this on occasion."

"Ok," Grant nodded. "I'm really happy that you're enjoying yourself."

"…" Daisy took a good look at her significant other. "What is eating you?"

"It is… strange," Grant confessed, "you and I, here, like this. After San Juan…I never imagined this to happen, honest. I never imagined _anything_ like this to happen. I think – I think that I actually feel happy, the way normal people do." He smiled, crookedly. "I think I like this feeling, you know?"

"How nice," Jemma Simmons said sourly. "Now, while you're trying not to have sex with Daisy in public, we should get going-"

"Hey, look – a spiny anteater," Grant said brightly, pointing to the mammal in question as in moved across the Australian land minding its own business.

"Squeee!" said Jemma in a sophisticated British way and promptly pulled out a cell phone to take a selfie with the animal in question. (She may have been an S.H.I.E.L.D. lab technician just as Fitz was, but it did not make them socially inept, after all.)

"I see that Jemma is occupied," Leo told the others brightly. "So's Hunter," he shot a look at the other man, who was busy ogling Kara's cleavage: currently the agents were dressed in a more civilian style, which, in Kara's case, was quite revealing – especially the top.

"Yes, yes he is – and so am I," the woman in question agreed. "Lance, let's go. We're here on a secondary mission too, remember?"

"I wouldn't call it 'secondary'," Lance turned more serious. "And your clothing is very nice. Do you dress like this often?"

"Only when I'm happy," Kara nodded, "and- and went to spread this happiness around."

Hunter stared. "What?" Kara asked, dimming somewhat. "I admit – Bobbi had been the one who got me into S.H.I.E.L.D. – otherwise I doubt that I would've applied to it or anything like that – but I do like working for it and helping people." She gave Grant a sidelong look. "I didn't lie to you either – I _can_ work and live _outside_ of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I think that you're right: this is better, a world with S.H.I.E.L.D. in it is better."

There was an awkward moment, and Daisy could not fill it with anything better than-

"You really believed in S.H.I.E.L.D. the first time around, didn't you?"

"Yes," the look that Kara gave her now was completely serious. "I did. I know that thanks to captain Rogers and all, S.H.I.E.L.D. still does not have a very good public image, but even Grant agrees – it wasn't all bad back then, in fact, until the last 2 or 4 years of its existence it was a very good place to live and to work; to make friends; to start a family," Kara shook her head and composed herself. "Make no mistake – the new S.H.I.E.L.D. is a place like this too. Coulson is doing a monumental job of fixing Fury's mess, but the old agency? It wasn't that bad either."

Daisy looked around. Grant and Lance were standing still, trying to figure out how to handle Kara's feminine emotions in a manly manner, while Jemma was still busy with the spiny anteater and Leo seemed to have wandered off into the distance. Therefore, she thought about it, and just gave Kara a hug. "Welcome to the new S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she suggested, somewhat shyly. "We're happy to hear that you like it here."

"Agent Daisy," Kara smiled – a small, fragile smile. "I'm not sure if we're going to be friends from a civilian point of view, but as far as agents go, you're quite impressive. Thanks for being nice to me and to my family."

"You're welcome," Daisy was realizing that she was boating in some unknown and dark waters without a GPS and she really didn't like the possibilities of running aground onto a reef. "Um, where's Leo?"

"There's a kangaroo involved," Alisha, one of Lincoln's friends from Li Shi, who had also worked alongside Kara, Grant, and Raina joined the team in a jeep. "Apparently, it is similar enough to S.H.I.E.L.D. mascot – the one from Greece – for him to decide and ride it."

"Leo's riding a kangaroo? Oh, Fitz!" Jemma exhaled. "I do hope that he won't get carried away! We do want to make a good first impression!"

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.," Alisha shrugged. "The original me went looking after him. "Squirt, Raina – are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Lincoln spoke from his own vehicle. "And don't call me that. What about everyone else?"

"Checked and ready, including the bear-dog," Kara said brightly, looking cheerful once again. "So, Hunter, ready to go on a less deadly S.H.I.E.L.D. mission with me and the others?"

"Yes," Lance replied to the others. "We'll see you in a few hours!" and they drove off.

"So," Daisy took a deep breath. "We're meeting representatives of the Australian government. How will this work?"

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.;" Grant replied smoothly, "Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson is personally involved. There're going to be improvisations, I just know it."

"If you think this is funny," Daisy began, but fell silent, as she honestly could not find any humor on Grant's face, and she had grown quite good at it. "Oh. You don't."

"I don't like improvisations very much," Grant admitted. "I got better at _handling_ them after the Bus and the vault, but I still don't like them. To Coulson, however, they just come naturally, so – yeah?"

Daisy nodded, and switched to another agent. "Jemma-"

"Fortunata Erminhilt is coming with us," Jemma said brightly. "If Leo is off riding a kangaroo I need someone in my own corner, thank you very much."

"You have given the animal a name?" Raina rolled her eyes. "How wonderful. The last animal that was named was Cybill Bernardt, and the bloody kingfisher is still nesting in the neighborhood, I bet."

"I'm sorry, but who is Cybill Bernardt?" Daisy could not help but to ask: this was probably the first time that Raina was more or less really comfortable around her lately, and Daisy did not want to let the moment go.

Raina grew thoughtful over something. "Ms. Palamas tells it better," she said, somewhat shy once more, "but, big brother? Will you give it a go?"

"Ok," Grant did not sound surprised at Raina's address at him. "It went like this. Sometime after we rescued Lincoln from Texas, we went to the beach for some relaxation and nature therapy. I do not exactly believe in it, but Kara liked the idea, so we complied. Raina did not really like going to the beach because of her appearance and because she was afraid, that seawater would not go well with her new anatomy. So, she found a small tidal pool not too far away from the rest of us, and began to meditate there instead."

There was a pause as Daisy looked over at Raina, who stared blankly back. This made Daisy uncomfortable, so- "What happened next?" she asked Grant instead.

"Cybill happened next. He is a kookaburra, a native kingfisher, but quite bigger than any of the American species, for example. When he landed on top of Raina and looked down on her from his perch on top of her head, she freaked out, and began to run around, yelling for us to get him off. Cybill, who was not used to trees who would run around when he would perch on them, also got scared and began to flap his wings, making his own shouts. It was one of those situations that are fun to talk about, but not fun to be in, if you know what I mean? Lincoln was the one who reacted first: he calmed Raina down and separated her from Cybill. Raina was grateful to Lincoln – but you can guess how it works, right?"

Daisy nodded.

"Cybill was appreciative of being rescued too," Grant concluded, "and promptly made his nest – properly in a real tree nearby from our own homes. He already had a mate and hatchlings when we began to travel and run into you."

"Ok," Daisy nodded, when her own comm.-link dinged. It was Fitz. He had news. Interesting ones. "Guys, we need to talk."

/ / /

Ms. Stephanie Malick was, well, a Malick. Which meant ruthlessness, higher-than-average intelligence, and loyalty to Hydra ideals, whatever they are (or supposed to be). It also meant money, and the prestige and power that came with this sort of cash.

All well and good, but karma was something of an eternal equalizer, and in Stephanie Malick's case it meant that her family was basically her and her father – and her father was acting erratically lately. Make no mistake; Stephanie had suspected for a while that things were not fine in her father's world, not since the entire Ultron and Sokovia incident, which had been a mess and a half, her father seemed to have lost something, some sort of a spark that made him a head of Hydra from the start.

Well, maybe it was a part of a greater Hydra problem – lately the overall morale was getting low, and for a while, it seemed that her father was truly the last of the Mohicans, as he did his best to keep the morale going.

…And then was the visit to ATCU – Stephanie always suspected that Rosalind Price kept her options open even in regards to Gothic Inc., but, then again, she wasn't Hydra, she was a cog in the U.S. federal bureaucracy, so was she really that important? Her father knew, but he did not confide in others very often, including Stephanie herself, so Stephanie honestly _did not_ know, and now-

Now ATCU was working with S.H.I.E.L.D., (which, given what Stephanie had heard about Helen Garner was strange and OOC for the older woman), while her father's behavior grew increasingly erratic and morose. Stephanie Malick knew that she had to do _something_ , and soon, but the problem was that she did not know what…

/ / /

Once more, Coulson was struck with a realization: he and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been in the shadows for so long, that once he and the others had to deal with someone else _openly_ , he, for one, was actually somewhat uncomfortable, and not in a good way.

 _Hunter's right,_ he mused to himself. _We can defeat any enemy that we come_ _across. However, when it comes to making friends, then we have a tougher time. Yes, no one is an island, but neither is any organization – or government, I suppose,_ he looked at the Prime Minister of Australia, who looked about as apprehensive and uncertain as he felt, and prepared for the opening of the head of state in question. As a matter of fact, he was surprised – somewhat, by the latter's opening…

"So, director Coulson, what do you know of the late John Hammond and his former company?" the PM asked.

There was a brief pause during which Coulson did a great job of _not_ appearing to have been caught flat-footed – and he pulled it off.

"InGen?" he said with a certain nonchalance that he did not quite feel. "This is a tricky one. John Hammond's vision was his own; he was never interested in S.H.I.E.L.D., either as a person or a businessman, but his relationship with Fury had been quite cordial, and his lectures as a guest speaker in the old S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy had been always well-received."

"I didn't know that Mr. Hammond used to be a lecturer," the PM _was_ surprised, though not how Coulson had expected him to be.

"He was a very passionate man, especially about his own vision, especially when he was younger," Coulson shrugged. "I confess that S.H.I.E.L.D. may not have been at its best when it came to dealing with him and his island back in the 90s when it _didn't_ unveil, in a matter of speaking, remember? But the park is gone, so's Mr. Hammond – he himself sadly died in the 90s – and as for that Jurassic World fiasco; well… what's your angle in all of this?"

"For a while Mr. Hammond thought about opening his park here, in our country, but eventually, by the 80s, he made a deal with Costa Rican government instead," the PM remembered, or rather – reminisced, as one of Coulson's particular S.H.I.E.L.D. gadgets made a certain beep of a sound.

"Excuse me," Coulson looked at what his agents had sent him. "Ah. Is this why you have mentioned Mr. Hammond?"

"I see they found the reptiles, including the giant megalanias," the PM took a brief look down at the pictures. "Yes. Before he went onto the dinosaurs, he had a test run here, so to speak – or rather, Dr. Wu did."

"Henry Wu," Coulson nodded with a distaste. "Never liked him. There were rumors that he had ties to AIM, though this was never proven."

"AIM? I thought that the villains were called Hydras or Hydra," the PM blinked.

"It's messier than you think," Coulson grimaced. "Basically, Wu had his own agenda, as has Hoskins. We, or more precisely Fury, he always had a bigger personal stake in Hammond's vision, so we know that Hydra wasn't involved in any of the disasters that Hammond's vision had spawned- but you're not Hydra either. You are 'just' the PM of a country, who allowed Hammond – or Wu, I suppose – to use alien technology to resurrect extinct animals. I admit that this wasn't the primary reason why we came to Australia, we honestly didn't expect our trail to lead here – it had started in Egypt; between that and the mess that we had with the Hydra uprising we had a real turn-around with the trail, but now, here we are. In addition, where is the technology? Here? Or in the possession of Mr. Masrani's heirs?"

"Here," the PM shrugged, "not that it'll do you any good," she cringed. "Wu was a genius, though I'm not sure of what sort. He had been able to replicate the technology perfectly, especially on Hammond and Masrani's dime, and pass it of as his own. There are rumors that he is likely dead. I cannot say that I miss him. The technology is out there." A pause. "We would like to help you get it back, if it is possible, for we – our country – would like a good relationship with your agency."

"Why?" Coulson drummed his fingers.

"Because Victoria Hand and her people are highly competent, to say the least, especially when it comes to the effects of the eco-disaster that was brought forth by the aliens of China," the PM did not back down. "Your people are good, very good, and the fact that they seem to have gone back to you isn't very surprising – Victoria had been 'entertaining' this sort of idea from the start. We would like to-"

"We, my agents and I, we aren't mercenaries," Coulson said tersely. "We don't work for money – well, not for money alone-"

"True, but you don't just take care of the U.S., but of the rest of the world too, especially before there was this mess with the WSC and Pierce and Fury," the PM countered. "Why won't you help us on a regular basis?"

"We cannot afford to," Coulson confessed with a grimace. "We're still nowhere near the old level of strength, the one where we were before the fall. The participation of Victoria Hand's…team came at a cost to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead, and one that I'm not sure that we could've afford to pay for anymore." He looked the PM in the eye. "However, we also need good will from the world's governments, including yours, obviously, so we've been thinking – we could leave some of 'Victoria's' people behind to act as instructors to _your_ people as a cooperation effort instead. After all, you already have an InHuman, a gifted person working for your government-"

"Yes, Eden 'Manifold' Fasi," the PM confessed. "He is a teleporter, though his powers don't work well on other people, as it was discovered. He is something of a specialist, I understood."

"Not quite the word I was looking for, but I get your gist," Coulson pinched his nose. "So do we have an agreement?"

They did.

/ / /

Melinda May was bored, in a very mundane manner. Coulson and Daisy had called – separately – that their mission in Australia had went interestingly. Lance and Kara had sent photos of Lance wrestling a really big snake to the ground instead.

Melinda smiled slightly. Lance Hunter was a good man, but until recently, he always was more comfortable sitting on the fence; he was not a traitor, he was just undecided and wary, which was not very surprising: Isabelle Hartley had been a good agent, but she had never been on the best of terms with Coulson; it _was_ a bad, a very bad thing that she had died, but if she hadn't, Melinda had doubts that she would've backed-up Coulson over Gonzales in their struggle; and then Gonzales himself had died-

Melinda frowned. Coulson was correct, sadly: the incident with the Iliad was the worst blow that S.H.I.E.L.D. had dealt since the Hydra uprising – so many good people, agents and InHumans dead, and all because Jiaying decided that she wanted a perfect world, where _her_ kind could be free from prosecution and mistrust and everything else-

Put like that, her position sounded reasonable. It also smacked of racism. Lincoln, and Raina, and the others were right – Hydra was not just a movement: it was also a philosophy. So was S.H.I.E.L.D., but here Melinda was in unknown waters.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission was straightforward – to be, well, a shield, between the humanity and anything and anyone that might threaten it, but nowadays, with Stark, and Rogers, and the other Avengers, this wasn't so cut and dried: did the world need S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore with all those superheroes going around doing the same thing _openly_? Coulson took S.H.I.E.L.D. into the shadows, and – now what? Melinda honestly could not decide if this was a way out, a niche, or a cul-de-sac. Would they stay in shadows for the rest of their lives? Considering how things went in Australia? Maybe not. Maybe _they_ , S.H.I.E.L.D., could come into the light and not Hydra-

"Excuse me. I'm given to understand this is where S.H.I.E.L.D. can cut a deal with Hydra agents?" a soft female voice spoke, almost startling May.

The woman agent stared. The speaker was vaguely similar to Bobbi Morse, and for a brief moment, May wondered if this was not some distant relative of the taller blonde-haired woman, but that was not very likely, even in their coincidence-crazy world.

"Yes," Melinda said firmly, "we are. And you are?"

"Stephanie Malick. I'm here to see if we cannot cut some sort of a deal regarding my father," the younger woman pursed her lips.

"Fascinating. And why would you want to do that?" Melinda did not back down either. "He is a head of Hydra, a former member of the WSC, one of the richest men in the world-"

"I don't think he is my father anymore," Stephanie said softly. "My father was all of those things that you just said and more, but after his visit to ATCU and that Price woman he changed – badly. Until then, he could work with the fact that Hydra did not seem to need Hydra anymore – that Crossbones clown and his backers: the Avengers should punch him into the next Ice Age when they meet him; my father should have been able to deal with that mask-wearing thug without any hassle, but-"

Melinda just stared: a monologue was not what she had expected here, and the younger woman, oblivious now to her surroundings, plowed on:

"-but he doesn't. Hydra had been his life; ever since his own father died this was my father's dream," Stephanie continued. "And now that dream died. I mean, yes, it's hard to keep optimism when one's best people are the likes of Kebo; make no mistake, he is very good," Stephanie crossed her legs while looking flushed from embarrassment, "but not exactly the right sort of good. And then there are you people – I do not like how you are suborning our people, you know? That said, my father should have done – he _could have_ done something about it too – but he does not. Tell me, Ms. Agent, what has happened in ATCU?"

"Your father fused with a very powerful, very dangerous, very little known gifted, known as an UnBodied," Melinda said flatly. She did not like the younger woman very much, and not just because she was Hydra, but there was something that made Stephanie Malick almost worthy of respect, perhaps. "Did you hear as to what has happened in Sacramento? That was the gifted behind it."

"I did… Of course. This _was_ what my father wanted, after all, to have the sort of power that you just could not _buy_ , not really," Stephanie muttered. "And now that he got it, he is lost. Can the two of them be separated?"

"Considering that it'd been weeks, even months – no," Melinda shook her head. "I don't think that it had been possible even right away, either."

"But you – can stop him?" Stephanie said quietly, miserably.

"We're working on this," Melinda said simply. "Did you come here just for this?"

"Yes, I suppose I have," Stephanie spoke, clearly cautious, as she handled, subconsciously, the firearm in her handbag. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent across her seemed relatively old and harmless, but somehow Stephanie was very unsure that she could defeat her. "I mean, you didn't really think that I would _join_ you, did you?"

"We're not forcing people to join us, especially former Hydra agents," Melinda was not impressed by Stephanie's bravado. "It's more of a witness protection sort of a deal. Ms. Malick, people are _afraid_ of what your father has become, and rightfully so."

"Then he must be removed even faster, while there is still some Hydra left," Stephanie said firmly. "It cannot be reduced to thugs and Eurotrash like Werner! It cannot!"

Melinda pursed her own lips. She really should not be egging the younger woman on, this wasn't in her character, but lately, working with Daisy and Andrew (and even Mack) rather than out in the field – and enjoying it - had given her a new perspective on some things, and she was actually honestly curious about Stephanie Malick's convictions. The interviews with Kaminsky and Hauer and their ilk were actually enlightening and informative from a practical point of view, and 'Yo-Yo' Rodriguez knew even more, but Stephanie was much higher to the top of Hydra, so Melinda, again, was honestly curious, and not just as an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent where she stood, PR-wise.

"So, why do _you_ believe in Hydra? And _how_?" she asked the blonde-haired woman. "John Garrett didn't believe in Hydra – he just used it, as he had used us, to keep himself alive. Whitehall honestly believed in it, just as he had believed in 'the master race' back in the WWII era. List pretended to be Whitehall, and baron von Strucker – the deceased one – just wanted power. They were relatively different people, especially in details, but they had things in common too: they were not afraid of getting their hands dirty. Both you and your father appear to be. So, how do _you_ express your loyalty to Hydra? And where do you stand in it?"

"Are you testing me?" Stephanie straightened out with fire in her eyes, but Melinda was not impressed:

"Ms. Stephanie, do you know why we work in S.H.I.E.L.D. – still work in S.H.I.E.L.D.? Because we believe in it, we believe that the world is a better place with it than without it, as captain Rogers once had. Can you honestly tell the same about yourself? About your feelings for Hydra?"

Stephanie Malick just stood stock still, her face pale now rather than flushed. "I'm not suggesting that you join us," Melinda spoke in a gentler tone of voice, "and we're certainly not _forcing_ you. We _had_ done something similar in the past, I admit, and this was one of the reasons why Hydra almost undid us, too. But if you ever need another option, we will hear you out."

Wordlessly, Stephanie Malick turned around and walked out.

"This was…something," Bobbi Morse, who, alongside Mackenzie, had joined Melinda and her interlocutrix midway through their 'discussion' (and Stephanie failed to notice them, even Mack, who was not a field agent, and not exactly a subtle man either). "Do you think that it'll work, whatever 'it' is?"

"I have no idea," Melinda admitted, "on both counts. However, I agree with Coulson – things are changing lately, who knows what will come our way? Why are you here? Is Coulson here?"

"Yes, he and the others are," Bobbi nodded. "We're supposed to have a meeting, too. We really should be going to meet and talk with them-"

And so they went.

 _TBC_


	17. Chapter 17

**Because Raina (part 17)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter features a crossover with "Primeval" TV series._

When Coulson called a meeting on that morning, (it had been more than two weeks since Stephanie Malick's ill-fated visit), everyone was honestly curious to hear what it was _specifically_ about.

"Gideon Malick's on the move," Coulson said promptly. "We just don't know what it is, precisely. Raina, you see, had a vision last night," he produced a sketch of a manor house, "which featured _this_. We showed it to Guiterra, and he identified it as Malick's _British_ residence – as opposed to his _American_ one."

"So he is on the move – literally," Lance nodded sagely. "I think that I know this place – it isn't far from the Westminster abbey. A trifle predictable, but that's Hydra for you. Thus, are we going to intercept him or what?"

Coulson blinked. "You're ok in going to your homeland?" he asked the younger man directly.

"Not quite the right word, director," Hunter grimaced, "but with the mask we can swing it – it is detachable, you know?"

"Really?" Coulson blinked and switched his attention to Kara. "I didn't know this-"

"I did," May answered instead. "She and Raina alternated wearing it, especially before we brought them in in regards to Hydra. She did use herself on the RF mission, however."

"Word," Kara nodded. "I was the one firing the kill shot. Lance is the faster shooter but I am the one with the better aim. And since being on Russian soil made us uncomfortable to begin with-"

"Well, now we'll have to go to _British_ soil instead," Coulson said crossly: ironically, he hated being cut out of the loop. "Are there going to be problems?"

"ARC-7 and Ms. Templeton in particular are still sore at me and Barbara and S.H.I.E.L.D.," Lance admitted. "This could be a problem. Can someone run interference?"

"I'll see what I can do," Coulson admitted. "FitzSimmons?"

"Yeah?" the scientists blinked, before realizing the obvious. "Oh! _That_! Yeah, it should be ready to lock and load!"

"Well, is it?" Rosalind spoke up suddenly, before blushing and withdrawing back. "Sorry."

"No harm no foul," the FitzSimmons spoke munificently. "Anyways, who is going?"

"Daisy, since she's working it," Coulson said simply, "the two of you, since you know how it works. Kara, since she is a field medic. And Hunter alongside Ward for extra field experience."

"…Joy," Fitz said sourly, as he looked askance at Ward, who ignored him. "Can't Raina and Lincoln go instead? Jemma and I can explain to them-"

"Leo," Jemma said simply, "zip it."

"Yes Jemma," Leo said simply. "Got it."

An uncomfortable silence fell, until Rosalind Price, who was suffering from morning sickness at this stage, broke it unwillingly by being sick (obviously). In the following commotion, everyone forgot Leo's atypical outburst – at least for the moment.

/ / /

The weather was lovely, given the time of the year – mid-spring. The sky was clear and blue (though there were clouds on the horizon, let us be fair); the weather itself was warm (though the wind was still chilly); the birds were singing, and the plants were sprouting fresh foliage etc.

"Next Monday it's supposed to snow," Leo Fitz decided to be a grouch once more. "The temperature will still be above zero, but it will snow."

"Fascinating," spoke someone else, "and we don't you people turn around, whoever the Hell you're supposed to be – this is a government operation-"

"Fascinating," Hunter parodied back, "now speaking of people – oh, captain Becker, long time no see-"

"Hunter, Lance Hunter," the other military Englishman gave him a look that was anything but friendly. "Long time no see."

Lance brightly flipped him the bird.

"That's it," the self-proclaimed captain Becker spat. He put down his Armalite firearm, and wrapped-up his sleeves.

"Bring it on, handsome!" Hunter spat. "Of all the people who hate me here, you're the least one that I care about."

"…Should I be the sensible one here and intervene, or leave it to Grant and help you pry the FitzSimmons from the local scientists' thingamajig?" Kara asked Daisy with a certain nonchalance, which was not entirely fake. "Who _are_ those people anyhow? What did we walk into?"

"Yes, _what_ did you walk into?" Gideon Malick appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and though there were bags under his eyes, and his attitude was somewhat subdued, it was also quite arrogant, and judging by how Daisy exhaled, and prepared to blast the man with her vibrations, quite rightfully so, for Gideon Malick seemed to be just as unimpressed by her actions as when they first met (when Coulson won Rosalind Price over to S.H.I.E.L.D.).

"Aha!" spoke Fitz and fired 'the local scientists' thingamajig. "Eat electromagnetism, Hydra head!"

There was a zap. The _human_ shape of Gideon Malick burst outwards into a shower of glassy fragments, before imploding back into a sphere, not unlike one of the simpler ornaments that are hanged onto a Christmas tree…

There was a general pause, as the sphere that had been Gideon Malick, billionaire, head of Hydra and former member of the former WSC just lay there, statically and inert. No one knew how to break the silence, either, until-

"What is going on here?" Stephanie Malick appeared on the scene. "Where is my father – oh? It is you. The S.H.I.E.L.D. people."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" 'Captain Becker' inquired, politely.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention and Logistics Division, mate," Lance Hunter told brightly (though Kara decided to 'intervene' between him and the other man after all). "Didn't you hear? Captain America and the Avengers made a big deal about it couple of years back, what with the Triskelions and all. It even made news on CNN."

"I don't have time to listen to every American piece of flash news," 'captain Becker' said haughtily, "plus we're working with electromagnetism, so technology is tricky at our place."

"And you are?" Kara said in a charming way, but with some genuine curiosity too.

"We're the Anomaly Research Center," 'captain Becker' said grandly. "We deal with time-displaced animals, such as those dinosaurs over there," he pointed to the reptiles in question. Sure enough, a small pack of dinosaurs, (meat-eaters rather than plant-eaters, judging by their shape), were lounging beneath a tree, wary of the human activity, but not overly so.

"You sure that they are 'time-displaced'?" Lance could not let it go, it seemed. "Maybe they are a part of some sort of a new InGen promo piece? More lab-made raptors or something?"

"These aren't raptors," one of 'Captain Becker's' companions snapped. "These are more ancient dinosaurs – coelurosaurs, most likely Coelophysis or some related species. The time anomaly leads to the first half of the Triassic, and the raptors appeared millions of years later, in the Cretaceous! In addition, as for InGen and their Jurassic World – do not get me started. That Dr. Wu made a profanation of science for money!"

"Aha," Daisy nodded carefully – the man reminded her of Fitz in some way. "And you are?"

"I'm Connor; this is Abby; with the help of Becker and the others we're rounding-up the time displaced animals, dinosaurs and the like, and send them back in time…what has happened here? I think I recognize the big guy – he and few others are, or were, helping the Australian government with _their_ dinosaur problem…I think?"

"We're S.H.I.E.L.D.; we're versatile," Grant said curtly, unwilling to go into details about the status of himself, Kara and the others to strangers.

"I can see that," Connor's companion – Abby – said wryly, pointing to the sphere that Gideon Malick had become. "What _has_ happened _here_?"

"Few months ago my father underwent an experiment that had transformed him – in part – into an entity that was more energy than flesh," Stephanie explained. "Since then, he had been behaving erratically, so I asked S.H.I.E.L.D. for an intervention. I admit that I didn't expect something like that, but I think it can work…" she finished somewhat doubtfully, looking down at the sphere. "Can my father be contained further? I didn't expect something like this, but while it is probably better than any alternative, my father still makes me uneasy…"

"Do you expect us to believe this?" Becker frowned, before looking at the sphere once again. "Then again, ordinary people don't do this – right, Connor?"

"Oh no!" Connor said firmly, "absolutely not. Me and Abby would never take it to field if it did that – right, Abby?"

The blonde Englishwoman just nodded and gave Connor a sceptical look.

"Well, I'm glad to hear this," Stephanie Malick herself was sceptical, as she subtly passed onto Daisy the information on Marion St. James that she was able to find. "So what about the dinosaurs? They don't look more dangerous than stray dogs would, for example."

"This isn't about their danger to _us_ ; it's about the time stream," Connor said curtly, before launching into a much bigger explanation, while the S.H.I.E.L.D. team took their leave.

/ / /

"So, this was the Time Anomaly Research Center?" Lance muttered to Daisy and the others as they sought out Rosalind Price's estranged daughter. "I got to admit that I'm not sure that captain Becker would make a good fit with them – I always pictured him to be more of the military academy type, you know?"

"No, we don't," Daisy shot back. "And what's wrong with him fitting in with that research center? You wrestled a giant snake in Australia not so long ago-"

"I was showing off," Hunter did not back down. "It was called a wonambi, too. Funny, I always thought that it was an animal instead-"

"You're probably thinking of a wombat," Grant said in a neutral voice. "They're similar to koalas but live on ground, as badgers do, instead of in trees."

"Met them, have you?" Hunter asked, politely.

"Yeah – in zoos," Grant admitted. "So how did the snake wrestling go?"

"Interesting," Hunter admitted. "I admit it was more interesting than the Madagascar bit – I can see why S.H.I.E.L.D. worked with this sort of thing too-"

"If you two are finished, we still need to find Rosalind's daughter," Leo interrupted the others, curtly – his mood has soured again, once more, now that the time Anomaly Research Center and its' manifestation/containment unit were behind them. "Do we trust Stephanie's info or what?"

"Let me check on someone," Jemma replied instead, (after a brief non-verbal conversation with Kara). "Excuse me, miss, but are you Marion St. James?"

"Who's asking?" the young woman, to whom Jemma addressed the question, was about Daisy's age, but shorter, more robust and buxom in body, and dressed in a near-sheer yellow shirt, red jacket, short green skirt and yellow Texan-like boots, she wasn't exactly screaming 'danger' to the sextet. "Who are you with?"

"We're with S.H.I.E.L.D. Ms. Price is getting married to our director and co-worker, Philip Coulson, and we were wondering if you wanted to attend the wedding," Jemma replied, blankly.

Her interlocutrix blinked. "You're serious?" she asked Jemma. "That I _got_ to see, and not just because my latest contacts are apparently Hydra. Can we go now?"

"Say what?" Jemma blinked. Marion exhaled, (in a manner not unlike that Kara), and turned her around to a new P.O.V. The other agents instinctively followed, and saw about half a dozen or so people, of Japanese (or similar) origins, armed with machine guns, pistols, and either custom grenades and modified Molotov cocktails approaching them in a business-like manner.

"I was currently working – well, trying to work – with this character, Zero Kano," Marion admitted with a grimace. "Turns out that he was Hydra and doesn't really like Westerners or Europeans. He tried to waste me. I got lucky and got him instead. Now the rest of his people are after me-"

One of the Japanese fired his machine gun. Daisy countered with her vibrations, stopping the bullets in their tracks, before knocking the shooter and his cohorts off their feet – unlike Gideon Malick, they were ordinary humans, apparently.

"So. You're one of those InHumans, people with supernatural gifts," Marion said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Daisy replied, somewhat testily. "And you?"

"Don't know, didn't take the fish, and don't want to discover," Marion shook her head. "Yes, mother dear may be the head of ATCU or whatever, but I don't care much for that people with gifts – they don't really make good customers…though what you people did in Sacramento was good, real good. You made the Internet with that footage, you know?"

"Yes, well," Daisy looked away – the memories of Sacramento were not very good ones for her…and her gaze met another person.

"So, you're the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who have dealt with Gideon Malick so conveniently," the person in question said. "Fascinating! However, where are my manners? My name is Ms. Ambroise, and I believe that I could take him of your hands, whatever his form is."

"Skye," Grant stage-whispered. "Be very careful. Her vibrations!"

"I know!" Daisy ignored the name gaffe this time. 'Ms. Ambroise's' vibrations weren't human. However… "Are you an UnBodied yourself?" she asked her. "My name is Daisy Johnson. I'm just an InHuman."

"I see that you have done well for yourself, in regards to family and friends," the older woman did not appear to be taking much offense – but by now, even the non-InHuman agents had realized that her appearance was deceiving and they had an even bigger problem than Gideon Malick was on their hands - perhaps. "Good for you! But no, I honestly don't know what am I and I don't care: InHuman, UnBodied, whatever you want to call me, it's the same to me."

Reminded despite herself of Marion's words in the address of InHumans, Daisy almost asked if it was a British thing, when Grant asked a question of his own:

"Are you with the Leviathan?"

"Say what now?" Ms. Ambroise frowned in thought. "Let's see what you're talking about, young man!" She reached her hand forwards, and abruptly Daisy and the others found themselves in a wintry Siberian taiga, or conifer forest, facing several military-looking types with Hydra logo on their uniform… and Grant, younger than his current age, and less formidable, clearly unimpressed by their behavior and holding his ground, although he was outgunned and outnumbered here, even by his present-day standards.

A new character suddenly appeared. He looked rather like Vladimir Lenin, the first general-secretary of the USSR, but not unlike Ms. Ambroise, there was something about him, perhaps his eyes, or even his face, that suggested that he wasn't who he looked like, or even a human. The newcomer looked at the Hydra soldiers, and-

"Fascinating," Ms. Ambroise broke the connection, dispersing the vision of the past. "Agent Ward, you have led a very interesting past and your story isn't finished yet. You will have an equally interesting future too – all of you, actually. Gideon Malick, on the other hand," she showed them the sphere that Gideon Malick had transformed into in her grasp, "needs an entire new book for his present and continued existence. Agents, I know not if we will meet again, but if we will do, it will too be interesting. And no, I'm not part of the Leviathan." With these words, she just winked out of existence: one moment she was there, the next moment she was not, with nary a trace of her passing.

"Was this how this guy, that guy," Leo stammered.

"Well," Grant did not look much better than the short scientist did. "Until the day when you'll see several professional military men spread in a thin and even layer all over the countryside – _literally_ – by either a cryptid or a mythical monster and learn that you're spared only because you're _not_ Hydra, you haven't lived. I admit – until then I didn't know the difference between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra; but since then I _knew_ that I wasn't Hydra and told John so, and he said that it was ok, he wasn't Hydra either, and-"

"We got it," Lance quickly said. "Was that why you were so upset about the Russian mission?"

"Yes, in part," Grant pinched his nose. "I know that Kara is competent and clever, and I think that you had some similar encounters in your own past, and that the Leviathan emissary or whatever isn't unreasonable, not unlike this 'Ms. Ambroise', but I really didn't like the possibility of him running into the two of you and you pissing him off."

"Fair enough," Lance grew thoughtful himself. "I think that I will need to contact the Watchers' Council and talk to him about this woman myself. I do not know where she took Malick, but-"

"Speaking of Hydra, and of 'this woman'," Jemma said carefully, "I think we've got more immediate problems…" she indicated towards the Japanese Hydra agents, who had gotten back on their feet and acquired more back-up. "I believe that while we were talking to _her_ , we have lost track of time-"

The Hydra Japanese agents attacked: not just with firearms, but with more melee weapons, such as nunchakus and sai daggers. The situation began to quickly get out of hand.

/ / /

"…You know," Coulson told Lance (and others, but yes, primarily Lance Hunter) a while later, "when you told me that you were planning to make amends with Her Majesty's government, I didn't expect you to act so…quickly."

"Meh, I confess: you…well, S.H.I.E.L.D., making 'nice' with the Aussies was a part of it," Hunter replied with a certain nonchalance: "Australia _is_ a part of Her Majesty's government, remember? You making 'nice' influenced Ms. Templeton into giving me and the rest of us the benefit of the doubt, plus… no one likes Hydra, now that it has come into the light, you know?"

"Word," Marion St. James agreed with Hunter from where she sat (next to her mother). The two women were quite different: whereas Rosalind was tall and delicate, Marion was short and robust; where Rosalind's hair was long and straight, Marion's was short and curly; where Rosalind's facial features were long and straight too, Marion's were shorter and wider; and if Rosalind's clothing was tasteful, classy, and pale (not unlike her), Marion's was almost vulgar and very colorful, and she herself was much more 'in the pink' than her mother was.

"So, you're Mr. Coulson?" Marion continued, with a certain nonchalance that fooled no one: despite their physical differences, Marion and her mother were clearly close to each other, or at least – fond of each other, and got along well enough, at least in small doses. "So, how did you and my mother meet?"

"Both S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU are involved with the gifted, and especially the InHumans," Coulson replied carefully. "At first we didn't get along, but then…we did."

"You really love my mum, don't you?" Marion said quietly. "Father…he was a wonderful man, but he and mum…it was an arranged marriage, it was called…they weren't very happy with each other…father cared for me, and loved me much more than he did about mum-"

"My dear, I was _loyal_ to your father-" Rosalind raised her voice: apparently this was a sore point between her and her daughter.

"I know, but you _love_ Mr. Coulson," Marion glared back. "Did you pick the baby's name?"

"Well, if it is a boy, I thought of the name of Moses, due to Phil's own cultural heritage, but right now we got it whittled down to Aaron and/or Joshua," Rosalind spoke carefully. "We're not sure about a girl's name, though."

"…What do you mean, his cultural heritage?" Jemma could not hold her curiosity. "Yes, he's Jewish, but he's secular, not unlike me and my family?"

"Ms. Price must've discovered the photos from S.H.I.E.L.D. first and last hair growing competition," Melinda replied before Coulson could. "One of the worse years in the history of the old S.H.I.E.L.D.: the hair care products, the groomings, the accessories, the lines into the bathrooms in regards to the mirrors…most women agents took a lot of field missions to avoid the men."

"So who won?" Daisy asked, curious and horrified at the same time.

"Agent Mack over there," Coulson spoke, looking slightly embarrassed. "Fury was the runner-up, I was number five – a very honorable mention and position, I should ask."

"Here are the pictures," Melinda put them onto the bigger display. "Maria and Sharon saved them, even though Fury told them not to: he got really depressed that Mack beat him by a hair, even though he was a _reasonably_ good sport about losing."

There was a pause as everyone beheld a younger Coulson with a much more impressive hairdo and beard doing a very passable depiction of an Old Testament Hebrew prophet. "You know, I do think you shouldn't call the baby Moses," Grant finally spoke to Rosalind. "His father does have it cornered. It will be a tough act for him to follow in the long run."

"I say" Leo's voice was oddly shrill and high-pitched, "for _someone's_ sake! Here is Coulson, going as an Old Testament prophet; there is Mack, looking as if he was part grizzly; and then there was me, recently, trying to grow facial hair and ending up looking like a cosplayer out of a Ben H. Winters novel. Seriously, people, couldn't you have given me a tip or something? I thought that this sort of immature hazing ended in the Academy!"

"…You were trying to grow facial hair on purpose?" Lincoln spoke before anyone else could. "We thought that you were just too busy to shave for some S.H.I.E.L.D.-related reason."

"At first I was," Leo confessed, "since I was looking for Jemma, but then I decided that I do _like_ have facial hair and tried to grow it on purpose, only it didn't work, and in the end I had to restart shaving since it looked as if I was trying to tease Daisy by looking like some sort of a more overt InHuman and that wasn't very fun since we're friends-"

"Leo, you're rumbling. We get the point," Coulson said gently.

"Sorry," Leo replied, somewhat sheepishly, before switching his attention to the agency's latest newcomer. "So, are you staying?"

"Yes, at least for mum's wedding, and then we'll see," it was Marion's turn to look away, embarrassed. "I'm not quite sure what to do next. Between the InHumans, Hydra, and some new agency called S.W.O.R.D., the entirety of Great Britain is getting too many of the big fish – unless I go hard-core and get involved in live trade, for example, and by 'live' I mean gifted people and such. I may be a criminal, but not that sort of criminal…"

"I'm sorry, what was the last one?" Coulson spoke with a polite mildness that fooled no one.

"Sentient World Observation and Response Department," Daisy replied, as she went through the Internet. "Um, D.C.? I think quite a few of those people are former S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"They are, especially their commander, Abigail Brand," Coulson looked thoughtful. "Admittedly, lately I'm not surprised that former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are striking on their own, but if Ms. St. James is saying that they are in human trade-"

"More like very aggressive recruitment," Marion grimaced, "especially if you're gifted. I'm not gifted – well, at least I have avoided eating any fish pills to, well, avoid, this sort of discovery, but I think I might now a guy who might be gifted or something else. So far, he is not impressed with this Abigail Brand woman or her approach. Come to think of it, _I'm_ not impressed with her or her approach…"

"Jealous, are we?" Kara asked quietly.

"No, no, I don't know," Marion muttered, clearly unhappy with the turn of the discussion. "So are you going to be in touch with her?.."

"Considering the way that Daisy and her team left Britain – probably," Coulson was genuinely thoughtful about this. "Gonzales… agent Gonzales… he tried to infiltrate, he did infiltrate my base, but in the end we had to sit down face to face on a conference table-"

"You mean _at_ a conference table, right?" Marion blinked, "'cause I'm getting a strange mental image here."

"Yes," Coulson said, refusing to be shaken, "I do. Abigail Brand and her people have their own stake in the entire InHuman situation, and since both S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU are somewhat ahead of them, they will probably negotiate with us…eventually. Anything else?"

"Yes," Kara echoed, as she and Lance exchanged a look. "Firstly, thank you, director, for allowing us to bring Suzy Therese here for a day. Secondly, can she bring a few friends over, _please_?" she fluttered her eyelashes at Coulson in an exaggerated manner, still causing the latter to cough.

"Fine," the director relented. "But I will need a list of all the people, especially the children, who will be coming. You follow?"

"Yes sir, it's a deal," Kara smiled widely, so did Lance, and they presented Coulson with the list in question: he just might have been had.

 _TBC_


	18. Chapter 18

**Because Raina (part 18)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains OCs._

It would take a lot to make Coulson nervous. This day was one such occasion. "So," Rosalind spoke nonchalantly, (despite her own worries), "how do you think today will go?"

"Roz," Coulson gave his partner a look – a more pointed one than the ones that he usually gave her. "Thank you for your support, but now is not the time-"

"Sir?" yet another voice – similar to the director's, but much younger and less confident, (far less so, actually) interrupted them. "Am I at a bad time?"

"Curtis!" Coulson immediately whirled around. "Hello! …I mean, young man," (Coulson did an admirable job of putting himself together before his son); "this is obvious NOT a bad time, for the OBVIOUS reasons – um. Roz? Help?" (Apparently, he still needed help.)

Roz carefully walked over to Curtis. "Hello, young man," she told the six-year-old boy, whose relationship with Phil Coulson was obvious: similar ears and nose, similar hair style, (and no, Coulson WASN'T suffering from male pattern baldness, thank you very much), similar intelligent and inquisitive eyes, (the glasses didn't hurt, though they didn't help either); the only major difference were the braces that Curtis was currently wearing, and Philip wasn't. "I'm Rosalind Price."

"Are you going to be my new mommy?" the boy asked, clearly noticing Rosalind's baby bump, which was quite obvious by now, to be fair.

"Yes, dear. Are you ready to be a big brother yourself?" Rosalind replied.

"I guess," Curtis looked shyly. "Do I have any siblings?"

"Yes, kid. Me," Marion, (who had been sitting quietly in the corner, while her mother and Coulson were not-panicking, spoke up. "I'm Marion. And you are?"

"I'm Curtis. Wow! You're old!" Curtis said brightly. "And your mom is older! So is my dad!" he blinked. "Everyone is old. Is it a grown-up thing?"

"I prefer the term big," Marion said brightly, "and are you trying to wind us up as your friend Suzy Therese does with her folks?"

"…Maybe," Curtis blushed. "Suzy is kind of fun. And nice. And yes, she does like Mason, but I think that she likes me too."

"…Isn't she the daughter of agents Lance and Kara?" Phil carefully rejoined the conversation.

"Yes, she looks like them. A lot. What's up with them?" Curtis looked at his father. "I remember Hunter hanging around Mason and his mom a lot in the past. Suzy did not like it. She was sad – in a quiet way. I do not like it when other people are quiet. _I am_ okay with being quiet, but Suzy…she is not really quiet, she is more like Mason – they are noisy and loud. I like when other people are loud. I do not think I like that Suzy likes Mason, but Mason just may like Alice more than her-"

"Wait, who's Alice?" Coulson blinked: apparently, Curtis had inherited his gift of gabbing.

"Alice Lorelle. She is one of us, sir," Curtis also blinked, (very much like his father, BTW), and slowed down, some: "she is a scholarship girl. She is very small and very round, kind of like you," he pointed to Marion. "Were you very round and small when you were our age?"

"Yes kid," Marion did not bat an eye. "And just you wait until you all become grown-ups yourselves. Maybe then you'll like this Alice girl better than Suzy."

"No," Curtis shook his head firmly. "Suzy is nice. She's fun, she's kind of bossy and loud and nice to hang around," he really concentrated. "And she's happy now that her parents are back together." He looked askance at his father. "So how did you and Ms. Rosalind meet?"

"At work, son," Coulson replied, concentrating himself. "She works in ATCU, you know?"

"No, I didn't," Curtis replied instantly. "What's that?"

"Let me explain," S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director said brightly, and did just that.

/ / /

"Join S.H.I.E.L.D.," Leo Fitz muttered, "see the world. Well, bugger this for a laugh!"

Jemma Simmons, who was naturally sitting next to him, frowned, but said nothing. Leo was in a bad mood lately, because of the obvious reasons, and while he was not getting better, he was not getting worse either. People were subtly suspecting that the small Scott was just that sort of a person – period. Jemma did not like it, but she herself had changed quite a bit in the last few years, ever since the entire Hydra uprising and the battle of New York, so she really couldn't complain: it wouldn't be constructive, after all. Yes, Grant Ward was still himself, for better and for worse, but hey, they themselves were still S.H.I.E.L.D. – they could handle him, thank you very much, and complaining…well, complaining wouldn't be the key: Leo was probably just releasing steam right now.

"Yes, I _am_ releasing steam, right now," Leo answered Jemma's statement: she had said the last part aloud, "and yes, you're right. Now what are we going to do about the elephant?"

That was a very good point: after dropping the children at the HQ, Fury got several agents (who did not have children and were currently still single) to come with him on a mission – a relatively straightforward mission that was also 'grown-up' ( **cough** – Fury probably felt overwhelmed in dealing with children even on an irregular basis. Fair enough, this sort of thing is not for everyone). Ironically, it involved the Nautilus club, especially now that the U.S. military itself was beginning to take down Hydra per se.

…The FitzSimmons, (not unlike their coworkers), were skeptical. Yes, it would be a very good thing, to have Hydra taken down once and for all, but not so long ago S.H.I.E.L.D. itself had undertaken such an op, and soon enough Hydra was back – brought back by Gideon Malick without too much damage to himself. Nowadays, Gideon Malick himself was gone, but his daughter remained…and yes, she had no obvious __intent of leading Hydra, but as long as Stephanie Malick was free and at large, any talk about Hydra being completely gone was…suspect, especially if general Talbot was the one doing the talking: he was a good man, just not a Hydra expert.

…On the other hand, the FitzSimmons themselves were not expert on the Nautilus club and its technology. Therefore, they were currently being confronted by a… trained war elephant, which just might have been controlled by some means. "I don't like his headgear," Jemma told Leo, as she pointed at the pachyderm in question. "It reminds me somewhat of the neural clamps that Whitehall had in _his_ HQ."

"That's nasty," Leo shuddered: this particular type of brainwashing involved partial lobotomy, so it could be considered even worse than the Faustus method, for example. However… "The neural clamps are vulnerable to electricity, are they not?" he asked his significant other. "So, let's do that first – provided that the people in charge of this place will allow us to accomplish this – right?"

Several of the enemy missiles hit – well, _almost_ hit the FitzSimmons. Good thing that they were just ordinary arrows, because otherwise the scientists could have been seriously hurt.

"When we heard this self-proclaimed 'centurion' call some of his soldiers the 'sagitarii' I thought that they were just insane. Now I _know_ that they are insane, for who the fuck do they think they are? The lost legion of Rome?"

The elephant trumpeted and tried to reach them once more. "All right," Jemma told Leo. "I'm ready. Are the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. ready?"

"Let's find out!" Leo said brightly, (for he too was ready) and flicked the switch. The D.W.A.R.V.E.S. enveloped the elephant's head in an electric net. There were flashes of further lightning and extremely strong smell of ozone. The elephant's eyes widened from shock. It trumpeted. It bellowed. It went berserk.

Off to the FitzSimmons' left (their current left), came a sound of an explosion, on a geyser-, if not a volcano-like scale. Clearly, Grant and Daisy (Skye?) were busy with their own problems – and the FitzSimmons were currently pinned-down by a bunch of idiots who fancied themselves to be genuine Roman legionnaires (while being dressed like a bunch of barbarians from historical fantasy novels) and a mentally-controlled elephant (African rather than Asian).

"Leo," Jemma muttered crossly, 'once we get back, I'm getting my own chakram. Or something along those lines. If we're going to be dealing with those idiots on a regular basis, I want to be Xena."

The elephant stumbled, as the InHuman-caused explosion shook the ground, and then it finally flinged its passengers' off of it, in a manner not unlike that of LotR movies. "Dibs on being Gimli!" Leo said faux-brightly, as the elephant looked at them from a kneeling position – but it was still an elephant.

"Leo?" Jemma thoughtfully told her partner, "I think that we just made a new friend. Want to ride it and see if we can't rescue Daisy and the others now?"

Leo and the elephant exchanged a long look of mutual scepticism, but Jemma sounded so enthusiastic, that neither of them really had the heart to argue with her.

/ / /

"So," said Bobbi, as she and Mack watched Mason play with Suzy Therese, (Curtis was busy interacting with director Coulson and his new/extended family, and he apparently wasn't as much into tag as Mason and Suzy Therese were, **cough** ), "thank you for spending time with me and Mason. He really appreciates it. So do I." She blushed at the last words.

Mack gave her a look. It was somewhat embarrassing, but back in the old days, relatively few people in S.H.I.E.L.D. thought about what it cost specialists to be, well, specialists, from a more human point of view. Now he did. (So did the others, actually.) Their humanity. To excel in a given field of science (or other fields) in S.H.I.E.L.D. was to largely sacrifice everything else. The FitzSimmons had been lucky with each other. Others, like Grant and Bobbi, not so much, and it cost them in the end. Now the old S.H.I.E.L.D. was largely gone, (or not, it was hard to tell with secret agencies, after all), people them were given another chance to become more human, and that was good. Kara was not wrong, after all, when she pointed out that even secret agencies had some lines in the sand, so maybe it was time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to acquire some. Or not, it was tricky with secret agencies, after all…

"What about your brother?" Bobbi pressed her question, startling Mack from his trip down the memory lane. "Will I meet him or what?"

"Bobbi?" Mack pointed out, carefully. "I'm purple. Reuben is my brother, I love him, but he is not prepared for me looking like an extra from a Dahl book."

"Maybe we can talk to him via Skype™ first?" Bobbi suggested. "Maybe with the FitzSimmons help you could color-filter the screen image?"

"…That's not such a bad idea," Mack admitted after a pause. "What about your family?"

"We don't talk too much to each other," Bobbi confessed. "It's probably my fault. I was an agent. They are…bourgeois. Middle-class British family, nothing remarkable. I love them; I just do not want to be like them in the end. Plus, my mother…"

"Yes?"

"Women in her family, including my sister and I, tend to end up really…large. Zaftig, evenly. It's some sort of a discrepancy in genetics, affecting our thyroid gland," Bobbi looked at nothing in particular. "Just like mom, I'm really…fertile, but if I don't exercise on a regular basis at least, I'll end up…well, fat. In addition, let us be fair – for most of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents this is not a good thing. The Koenigs may be able to pull it off, somehow, but I…do not think that I can. May, on the other hand… during those 7 years of office work, there were rumors that she had led herself go as compared to her old shape…as you can see now, this sort of thing _isn't_ evident on her, any lipo jokes and rumors regardless."

"There were lipo jokes about May?" Mack blinked.

"Women are women, even in S.H.I.E.L.D.," Bobbi confessed, "and people working in it, especially women, tended to end up on a vicious, vindictive side of things. This happened to Kara…to me too. Hopefully, maybe now we'll be better people…" Bobbi shifted and confessed. "Mack, thanks for hanging around me. I appreciate it. So does Mason."

"You're welcome," Mack said, feeling oddly uncomfortable. Yes, Mason clearly could not be taken for his son, but on some level, that was okay. In addition, for all of his attitude, the boy was polite _and_ protective of his mother, not exactly bad traits to have either (and Mack could relate to that, too).

Still… "So where does Hunter fit into this?" Mack looked apologetically at Bobbi. "You two were like the HuntingBird team or something, **cough**."

Bobbi blushed, but she was more embarrassed than angry. "I honestly hope that he and I will remain friends," she said simply. "He was the first person who saw the woman behind the specialist. I must confess – I handled him and Kara all wrong. Yes, Kara's role wasn't as pristine in it as she would like to think, but I was the better agent, I was agent _19_ , I should've handled it better – much better." She looked away, across the room, where Kara and Lance were most certainly _not_ looking at her and Mack, but rather at their children. "Raina confided in me that she had a vision where I lost all of them. I do not want that. S.H.I.E.L.D. _is_ my life and priority, but so's Mason and you…"

Mack coughed and tried his best not to blush. With his new color of skin, it was not a good thing, not entirely. He would have said something else, but at that moment Suzy Therese chose to wail as loudly as a train: she and Mason had claimed a tree (the HQ of S.H.I.E.L.D. was located in the American southwest, and it showed), and now she was stuck.

"Want some help in getting them down?" Mack carefully asked Kara and Lance.

"It's your child too," Lance replied simply. "So – yeah."

/ / /

"Hey, Jemma!" Daisy called-out, sounding slightly morose, as the FitzSimmons approached on their new ride. "I believe that I owe you an apology for all the hard times that I gave you regarding the InHumans and the like."

"Oh?" Jemma frowned in thought. "What brought this on?" (It was not that she resented Daisy's difference of opinion on that sort of thing, but an apology was nice – S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were not really big on it.)

"This," Daisy replied, using her powers to raise a huge, or at least a very large corpse into the air. "Grant believes that this is an amphibian version of the InHumans, and I don't like what I'm seeing here."

"An amphibian?" Jemma blinked. "What do you mean? Can you be more specific?"

As she spoke, the corpse fell into pieces – Daisy's powers proved too much for it even in death.

"Ever seen a mudpuppy?" Grant asked instead.

"Yes," Jemma nodded, warily. "Mostly in pet stores, however." She paused and thought this over. "External gills?"

"Yes," Daisy nodded, as she used her powers, this time, to raise just one head, (out of several) out of the muck. "Either it is an artificially-modified monster – well, a test tube one or whatever – or it was created by the terragenesis doing the entire ecological contamination thingy. Hence the apology."

"Daisy?" Jemma said slightly peevishly, "ecological contamination isn't a 'thingy'. But it's you, so thank you for your apology, anyways." She paused and continued, more reluctantly: "Grant? Is this why the Australian government is so outraged? Because of creatures like this one?"

"Yes," Grant nodded simply. "So far it wasn't as bad it is here, but an ounce of prevention and all that. Plus, the Great Barrier Reef and all – the Australian government was worried about it because of the greenhouse effect, and now…" he shrugged and pointed at the dead creature. "This isn't good, period."

There was a pause as the agents stared at it. "This isn't what I sought, this isn't why I fought with you," Daisy muttered simply. "The gift, the powers-"

"Stop, Daisy," Jemma got off the elephant and approached her friend. "Let's be fair. Humans with powers is one thing. Animals, transformed by the alien crystals is another. Yes, it is _our_ fault that this got so bad, but the emphasis is on 'our' – the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jiaying fooled us all. We all share the blame."

"This doesn't make me feel better…no, it does," Daisy muttered. "Hey, Yo-Yo? Thanks for the clothing!"

"Don't mention it!" the speedy InHuman replied from a distance. "Seeing you and Ward naked was fun, but I could handle it."

"Say what now?" Jemma blinked as she (and Leo) finally registered, visually, that the clothing of Daisy and Grant was less well fit as it was normally for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, especially in Daisy's case.

"The slime really messed it up," Grant muttered. "Daisy tried to vibrate the slime off of us, and the clothing just fell apart into piles of thread – _all of it._ I don't know where agent Rodriguez got _these_ uniforms, but we're grateful for them," he finished with almost a grin on his face. "What's with the elephant?"

"We freed it from mind control," Leo muttered, "so it is now our friend. Grant, why did not you come with us onto the pod? Especially if it was going to float?"

Grant did not twitch, but then it took a lot to catch him flat-footed, and this was not it. "Because John was more S.O. _and_ my father," he replied. "You and Jemma had killed him for all purposes. I kind of went berserk – this has happened to me in the past, John had nothing to do with it, it was all me. I was not really thinking rationally. A part of me wanted to hurt you very badly. Another…wanted to help you escape from the Bus. This, this thing with the pod was the best thing, the best compromise I could come up with. I wanted to help you. I also wanted to hurt you very badly, for for years Garrett was the closest thing I had for a father; for all of his flaws, he was a better person than my biological father was. He _had_ to be," he finished in a whisper.

"…Fair enough," Leo decided. "No one ever called you 'nice'. Not even Sk- Daisy."

"Yes, well," the aforementioned Daisy said crossly. "What are you two going to do with the elephant? And let's start wrapping it up, too – I want to get back to the base and see the children before they have to go back to their place."

"Point," Leo admitted. "They do look rather nice. In addition, baby Coulson is, well, baby Coulson, braces and all. Moreover, Ward? I would not call us friends, not yet and not really, but we are not enemies either. I…my parents died in car accident when I was not yet four. My aunt and uncle raised me. They are good people, but they are not my parents."

"Plus you're a genius, and not many people can understand you," Daisy nodded. "Was it Hydra?"

"If only," Leo said bitterly, "but no. Just some drunken jackass behind the wheel of a truck. Does not make it any better. People _do not_ have to be Hydra or even evil to cause problems for the others, and thanks for the hug…why is the elephant hugging me?"

"Hey, I've read online that elephants are just as intelligent as the great apes and dolphins are," Daisy shrugged. "Maybe this one figured that you're sad, due to keen hearing?"

"This doesn't make sense," Leo grumbled. "But yes, let's pick things up. I want to see more of the children while there is still time."

/ / /

 _Some time later…_

"Well, this was fun," Bobbi muttered, as she half-sat and half-sprawled on a seat. "Mind you, I guess that Mason became even _more_ active now that he has real friends in his corner, **cough**."

"You mean he wasn't like that before?" Coulson called back from across the table.

"Somehow, in our past visits, he wasn't, and not in a good way," Bobbi confessed, looked over at Kara and Lance and said nothing. Well, no, what she said instead was: "Your daughter is looking great. She and Curtis seem to be going along well enough. Curtis is a lot like his father – if the stories about our director during the academy years were true, he too was very interested, in who was tall, who was small, who was round-"

Coulson broke into a coughing fit. "Curtis is a fine boy," Rosalind answered instead, "and what that Annika girl? Is she really ill?"

"She has a heart problem, yes," Jemma gave the older woman a thoughtful look, "but nothing fatal. Leo and I should be able to resolve it with just the right pacemaker, so to speak. It is not really a pacemaker, but-"

"I miss them," Lance spoke suddenly. "I mean yeah, they were overwhelming, but I miss them already. Is it strange?"

"Not really, no, and besides, in just a few months you'll have a new one, a second one," Rosalind said simply. "How does your daughter handle this?"

"Nervous, but in a good way," Kara replied. "For a long time it was just me and her. Now, well, a big family? This is a good thing." She switched her poise and looked at other people. "Grant, you make a wonderful uncle, BTW. And Daisy?"

"He proposed," Daisy replied simply. "On the way there. I am blaming you for that. I accepted," she looked at Rosalind of all people. "How does it work?"

"I'll explain later, dear," Rosalind blushed for some reason. "How was the mission?"

"I think the FitzSimmons should explain it better," Grant spoke innocently. "They were the ones who brought the elephant for the children while Daisy and I were taking a shower. It's nice that they have a new pet, but did it have to be such a big one?"

The FitzSimmons looked at each other and blushed. "Yes, that's what we thought," Coulson replied, "but the situation itself?"

"We've read the debriefing, the info provided by Petersen and all," Leo muttered, looking askance at Grant and Kara. "This was actually similar, once you got down to the main details. When Peterson was captured, he had to deal with an underground gladiator arena – we have read Fury's remarks too, it was very big, but it was still largely a single architectural underground complex slash building. In this case, the place was _above_ ground, but the details were similar. Yeah, there were no robots, just modified animals, but they were in the original complex, right?"

"Only dinosaurs. Raptors, basically, of some kind. Not so much bred as trained, I would think," Grant muttered. "This time there were no dinosaurs?"

"No, just prehistoric animals from _other_ time periods, plus that thing that you two have killed, plus the mentally clasped elephant," Leo shook his head, "plus a lot of insane idiots, who honestly thought that they were some sort of a lost Roman legion. I do not know what the Nautilus club is planning, or if they are planning anything at all. As I was telling the others on the way back here, few things are as bad as purposefully planned evil, and one of them is just callous, wanton cruelty. The Nautilus club – and they have it in public domain – is a powerhouse of, well, power, and so far I'm not impressed as to how they use it." He shook his head. "At least the elephant is ok. The people – not so much. And Fury has acquired more dirt on project Pegasus in the process."

"Project Pegasus?" Rosalind raised one eyebrow, in an elegant way. "I know of it! In 2004 or about so several countries – U.S., E.C., R.F. and others launched a rocket into space. It is supposed – it was designed – it has travelled the entire Solar System and back. It had done it! It was one of humanity's greatest achievements! …For S.H.I.E.L.D., it was rather silly, right?"

"No," Coulson said curtly, "it wasn't. S.H.I.E.L.D. had invested in it too; Claire Granier, who was one of the mission's top scientists, was one of our people and a very high-level one too. She was the one who instigated Grant's pre-Bus Paris mission. She currently lives in France, since she is French herself…" he grew thoughtful. "So. The odds of the Nautilus club being involved in this sort of a project were great. Fury always knew much more than he liked to tell. Lately, ever since the alien invasion of New York City, things are being destabilized on an international scale and for a while Hydra was very heavily involved with aliens, and now it is going down due to _Talbot_ and the U.S. military, with most ops taking place on foreign soil and everyone is keeping mum. People, I think I would like to talk to Dr. Granier _and_ to Stephanie Malick."

"And I'm guessing that we have our new mission," Daisy spoke with a certain nonchalance.

 _TBC_


	19. Chapter 19

**Because Raina (part 19)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains some information from the d20 Modern roleplaying game._

 _Note 2: Dr. Granier is reminiscent of Helene Mahieu, BTW._

 _Note 3: this chapter is something of a crossover with the Avengers, perhaps, so spoiler alert._

 _Note 4: Pegasus is based on 2004 Impossible Pictures™ film, here._

…Stephanie Malick had been wordlessly observing the TV news, as Earth's Mightiest Heroes, (save for the Incredible Hulk and Thor), were busy battling each other, as apparently without any villains around, there was no one else left for them to battle. Now, she was observing the other woman, trying, but failing (and badly, too), to appear as to _not_ being startled by the latter's appearance.

"Right," she turned back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Melinda May. "You may've softened your look somewhat, but you're still the same underneath, fundamentally speaking. What did you want to talk about?"

"The Nautilus Club," the elder woman replied simply. "Is your family a part of it?"

"No. People gain membership there by invitation only, and membership costs 10 million dollars at first, and then one million dollars _annually_ ," Stephanie shook her head. "Mind you, we could afford it, but from what we heard from Dr. Radcliffe and the others, we were better off _not_ being a part of it."

"How so?" Melinda pressed on.

"It is highly chaotic and unpredictable," Stephanie frowned in thought. (For real, not pretending.) "It run by the council of 12. You have to _be_ in the club for at least two or more years before being able to vote for 'your' council members, and for five or more years, before you can be considered council material. A council member can serve for _four_ years, in theory, but in practice, there are other, lesser elections every year, and up to three council members are replaced – it is impossible to get anything done, and the Nautilus Club likes it this way. It is a colossal money laundering operation, and  perhaps a support network, but so far, few Club members had produced _anything_ worth of value. Father always thought of the Club to be some sort of a financial scam, and  perhaps he was right."

"Fascinating," Melinda nodded, (so far the younger woman didn't really disappoint: the information on the Nautilus Club wasn't very forthcoming, at least nothing that was truly worthwhile and/or important, so Stephanie _was_ delivering, however reluctantly), "but do you think that _this_ is just a financial scam?" she produced photos of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s previous run-ins (well, just one, honestly) with the Nautilus Club's outposts.

"Yes, and you know it," Stephanie did not back down, (though she _was_ impressed by the Club's scale, just a little). "Wanton cruelty, regardless of the scale, isn't creation. Hydra was trying to make the world a better place – but it wasn't, was it? Nobody cares about it being gone, no one is bringing it back. S.H.I.E.L.D….I do not know about S.H.I.E.L.D. You people are coming back, somehow or other, in Australia and other parts of the British dominion, at least, so this counts for _something_. Good for you."

"You really believed in Hydra, didn't you?" Melinda asked softly.

"I believed in my father, that he was always right," Stephanie replied in an even more subdued tone of voice, "that Hydra was **the** way to make the world a better place, but it isn't. You ever had a realization that your father – or mother – are wrong?"

"Maybe," Melinda did not really want to talk about her parents for a variety of reasons. "What I know, however, is that you're a woman who wants to belong-"

"Please leave," Stephanie glared, "I'm one of the richest people in the world-"

"The Prime Minister of Great Britain is the leader of AIM," Melinda shrugged. "We're not trying to step on your pride – believe me, if we did, you'd know the difference – but we do think that you're a person who wants to matter and to belong in someone important. We are not exactly 'good' ourselves, especially by civilian standards, but we have lines in sand and _some_ values at the very least. Think on that, would you? Obviously you're not going anywhere with Hydra-"

"I'll think about it," Stephanie grimaced. "Thanks for the sale pitch-"

"Don't mention it," Melinda, to her surprise, realized that she meant it – both the reply right now and the 'sales pitch' earlier. Stephanie Malick was a Malick, not to mention a rich person, (neither quality made her exactly a recruitment material by conventional S.H.I.E.L.D. standard), but she wasn't exactly evil either, or unsuitable, so who could tell? Also surprisingly, Melinda realized that she did not wish ill to the younger blonde, so if her speech would change Stephanie for the better, all the better, yeah…

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…._

"So, this is where Dr. Granier lives?" Rosalind commented to Coulson, as the two of them, (alongside Grant and Daisy, this time), walked through the Parisian streets. "I must admit, this looks very…European."

"Thank you," Coulson nodded, clearly out of tune, as the unpredictable spring weather constantly changed from sunny to cloudy and back again, from warm to cool and back once more. "And thank you for coming to with us – I really think that you can make Dr. Granier more…receptive to us."

"Of course you do," Rosalind said wryly, but without any real malice. "How's agent May doing?"

"She has established contact with Stephanie Malick, yes," Coulson nodded sagely. "So hopefully, she'll get at least _some_ information about the Nautilus Club from that angle. Us, meanwhile, we'll try to get some other information about project Pegasus – not because we don't trust Fury, but because-"

"We trust him?" Daisy suggested wryly. Lately, after all the trials and missions and tribulations, she had a clearer idea of what Fury used to mean in S.H.I.E.L.D. in general and to Coulson in particular. She was also beginning to have her own ideas of what Fury meant to her in particular…but wasn't about to confront Coulson about it – not yet, and perhaps not ever. Fury _was_ a good man, after all, and-

"We're here," Coulson spoke, shaking Daisy out of her revelry (which, admittedly, was not very deep – Daisy, by now, was a _professional_ S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, thank you very much), "who wants to ring the doorbell?"

There was a pause as the others just stared at him. "It was a joke, people," Coulson muttered, "I was trying to be funny-"

"And you're doing an admirable job," Rosalind muttered, as she did ring the doorbell in question. "Any reason why you're so nervous-?"

"He is just trying to relate to Curtis," Grant muttered from his position. "Apparently, Curtis finds this sort of thing funny. And Marion-?"

"What about Marion? Who's Marion, actually?" muttered…Natasha Romanoff, of all people, as she opened the door. Then she saw just _who_ was ringing the bell and just stared, even by the Avengers' standards.

"So did the others?"

"Hello," Coulson finally said brightly, "would you believe it that I'm just a zombie, who wants to eat Dr. Granier's brains?"

"…I'm going to kill you for stringing us along for so long," the Black Widow said flatly. "Stark has gone crazy and sold out to the government side, Rogers has run away, the Avengers Initiative seems to be largely over, this HAMMER thing seems to be coming out of the ground-"

"I'm engaged," Coulson said brightly. "To her," he pointed towards Rosalind. "Also, were you in on Hill and Fury's plan to keep me in the dark about Curtis? Moreover, can we talk to Dr. Granier? About Project Pegasus, too."

"Congratulations," Natasha told the older woman as she pulled out a chair from the corridor and very pointedly sat in it, "and no, I didn't. Fury, for the last few years, has generally kept council with himself and with Hill-"

"Not with Alexander Pierce?" Grant could not help but to ask.

"No! At least – I hope not," Natasha confessed. "But you know how far Hydra got into S.H.I.E.L.D., before Rogers had finished it all off, so please don't be surprised if things got strange, especially for you – even for you – at the end. Now-" she paused and gave Grant a look. He evenly returned it. "Right," she shook his head. "Just so we're clear, none of _you_ are Hydra, are you?"

"No," Daisy replied, sounding oddly gently. "But what about you? Your vibrations feel off, scared-"

"I'm not scared," the redhead said curtly, "I just hadn't had a good time lately. Both Steve and Tony were my _friends_ , you know, and now I have effectively lost both. Hawkeye…well, yes, but he's got Laura and the boy to take care off, so do you," she shot a look at Coulson, "and-"

The Black Widow didn't finish, as the andrewsarchus, one that Grant, Kara and their friends had sent to the Avengers quite some time earlier, (back when they had just agreed to come over and to work it out in regards to Hydra), came trotting out of the apartment, blocking almost all of the corridor (it was a _big_ animal, after all, maybe not dinosaur big, but still bigger than polar bear big).

"Oh," Rosalind said sagely. "Please tell me that Dr. Granier wasn't eaten by your companion, wasn't it?"

"Of course not!" Natasha spoke in an insulted tone of voice, "Dr. Granier had been out of commission for ages!" She paused and face palmed. "This isn't what I meant. After project Pegasus had been, well, completed, and the shuttle had returned to Earth, Dr. Granier and the others had been re-located for their own safety, cough."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"You and Fury and Hill would wish! No, Pegasus was under government control from the start – France, and Great Britain, and RF. The U.S. was never a part of it, thanks to the pre-Ellis administration back in 2004 and the like, hence why the States had been out of loop regarding the space race, and all."

"…You had sent Hunter and Palamas to RF before – is this a part of it?" Rosalind muttered to Coulson as an aside.

"No, this was about the InHumans, who weren't related to Pegasus…I hope," Coulson muttered back, before switching his attention back to Natasha. "You want to explain everything or anything, ending with why are you here?"

"This is an S.H.I.E.L.D. safety house, Phil," Natasha sighed. "I wanted some alone time – Barton knows about it, so do Fury and Hill, but otherwise? Not even Stark and Rogers do. I, me – they were my _friends_ , you know? I…began to care about Steve during the entire Winter Soldier debacle, and now, but now – Tony was right in regards to the Sokovia accords and everything, you know? Zemo is a crazy person, but he became so, in part, _because_ of Ultron, because of what _we_ did. Stark did create Ultron – as well as Vision – but he did not deny it either, we _have_ to be responsible to _someone_ ; _someone_ has to keep us in check… Dr. Granier had been working for the French government, _her_ government, for years, ever since Pegasus had landed."

"Why? What did it do?" Coulson snapped.

"It explored the Solar System, all the way to Pluto," Natasha gave him a face-on look. "Even by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standards, it was very impressive, and by the others', well… The Russians, of course, had surprised us all – _they_ had been working on _their_ space program ever since the end of WWII, and even the Perestroika hadn't slowed them down much: _unofficially_. They did a lot of the preliminary work, and it had paid off, for them. They discovered heavy metals and similar elements from Mendeleev's work on Venus, and it got them very excited. Even after project Pegasus' finish, they kept it up, planning to develop and to mine Venus, and Britain and France are in it too."

"The leader of AIM is the Prime Minister of Britain, nowadays," Coulson said thoughtfully, "and from what we've seen saw far, she is _very_ interested in robotics, even more so than Garrett had been, for example." (There was no reaction from Grant.) "She has cut a deal of her own with North Korea. Keeping that in mind, it is not very surprising that AIM, if not Hydra, is in this. What of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Ever wondered how we came up with the working concept of the helicarriers and beyond?" Natasha shrugged. "We stole them from the Japanese. The _Japanese_ idea of Triskelions and the like is not just for atmosphere and Earth, but also for space itself. The Russians and the Europeans plan to take over Venus. The Japanese and their allies plan to colonize the moon."

There was a pause as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, (plus Rosalind), tried to visualize this idea. "I don't think that S.H.I.E.L.D. would accept it, not easily," Daisy muttered. "I wasn't in S.H.I.E.L.D. during the battle of New York period, but I kept tabs on it, and I know that Fury didn't like the idea of space exploration very much."

"He doesn't," Natasha agreed. "On Venus, Pegasus had discovered heavy metals; on Jupiter's satellites, it discovered signs of sentient life, something that Fury's agents in Pegasus had been able to hush up."

"…More aliens?" Coulson twitched. "Seriously?"

"'More' aliens?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"The GH formula, for one thing. The Asgardians and the Chi'tauri for another," Coulson said flatly. "What's on Jupiter?"

"I don't know," Natasha shook her head. "No one does, except for Fury and maybe Hill. Maybe you?"

"I don't think so," Coulson shook his head. "I honestly haven't been the same ever since the battle. Will you come with us? You're still one of us – an agent."

A look of genuine surprise, gratitude and – regret (?) briefly flashed over Natasha's face but so quickly that not even Coulson could be certain of what it was, before the Black Widow shook her head. "Thank you, but no thanks – at least not for now. I do not plant to stay in Europe for very long – the Sokovia accord and all that. But again, thank you for the offer: I'll consider it."

Nothing more could be said, and Coulson with his people had left, leaving the Black Widow with the Avengers' old mascot and her thoughts.

/ / /

"Okay, I admit – I thought that this would take longer," Coulson confessed, as Grant piloted them over the channel into England, to pick up May and her people. "Neither did I expect to encounter agent Romanoff and – **cough** – her pet. I guess she is the one who ended-up with it-"

"Sir, can I make an observation?" Grant carefully spoke. "She ignored your mention of the InHumans. Did you talk to Fury-?"

"No," Coulson shook his head, "but the InHumans are becoming obvious on their own level – Daisy?"

"I've sensed her vibrations – she's human, D.C.," Daisy said firmly, "but she is miserable and scared – is she supposed to be that? She's the Black Widow, here!"

"I'm sorry, but why are you talking about the Black Widow, here?" Melinda asked as she came aboard the quinnjet.

"We met her at Dr. Granier's old place," Daisy explained to the agent before the others did. "Apparently, it _is_ now an S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house, as per agreement between the agency, the currently-defunct WSC, and the French government. Even after the initial Hydra uprising, the agreement had held." She paused. "Indeed, quite a few of the initial S.H.I.E.L.D. safe houses had worked – the ones that didn't usually had been betrayed from within. This means, among other things, that Kara was honest – Bobbi must've sold out her place, probably because of her," she looked away.

The others kept quiet. Yes, Bobbi's actions were bad, but she herself was not – she just had problems, a lot of them, and the fact that Kara was the first to let go of the feud that had developed between the two women had made things both easier and harder for Bobbi to move forwards, (relatively so).

"Anyways," Melinda spoke to break the silence. "Why are we talking about Morse? Yes, I understand that things did not quite go according to plan, but why not talk about someone or something else? Like the eggs that the FitzSimmons had acquired for us earlier this week?"

Everyone winced at the mention of _that_. The FitzSimmons had meant well, when they 'acquired' a bunch of hard-boiled post-Easter eggs practically for free, but as far as hard-boiled eggs went, these were a particularly pathetic-looking bunch, already pre-wrapped in plastic or not. They were even shelled, and who knows what condition the hands that had done the shelling were in? Melinda took one look at them and promptly suggested slash implied that the eggs in question should go into Andrew's old fridge with the  rest of the Salvation Army rejects. Considering that the contents of Andrew's old fridge were uninspiring, **cough** , the FitzSimmons took the rejection of their attempt at 'Home Ec' with a fairly poor style: even now, days after the incident, some tension between them and Melinda had remained.

"Let's not go that far into topics," Coulson shrugged. "Melinda, did Stephanie Malick tell you anything about the Nautilus Club?"

"Yes, and I'm not sure if it _is_ just sour grapes," Melinda grew professional, (well, more so) once more, as she related the information about the Nautilus Club that she got from the current (nominate) head of Gothic industries. "This sounds like a fairly accurate depiction, especially by amateur levels."

"Agreed," Daisy nodded, (with a slightly odd note in her voice). "The Nautilus Club has managed, so far, to keep itself out of spotlight, but not quite, and people talk. So far, the nautiloids had been able to keep themselves out of spotlight, but there are plenty of indications and suggestions as to how they might _really_ be - and what May told us fits well enough with the information. Is Stephanie a part of the club?" She paused. "No, this isn't what I meant. Is she _considering_ asking the Nautilus Club to let her in? Hydra may be gone – according to Talbot, but still – she can go anywhere-"

"Daisy," Melinda cut the younger woman off. "Do you have a problem?"

"I have no idea!" Daisy replied brightly. "Orphan, remember? Never had a permanent family, and now…my mother's dead, and my father, according to the latest reports – yes, I have some agents check up on him occasionally, mostly O'Brian and his group – has been living with a woman of, um, Oriental appearance and about Jemma's age. I do not know if I have, or will have, half-siblings in the future and how to handle it, given the entire T.A.H.I.T.I. thing. You are having thoughts of having Stephanie Malick under wing? Fine, but I just genuinely don't know how to handle it, and I don't know if I should talk to Andrew, in case you want to talk to him first-"

"Wait. Cal has a new girlfriend, significant other, whoever?" Coulson blinked.

"Yup," Daisy said simply. "I know that I shouldn't boss O'Brian and his people like that, but, you know, it's Cal. I don't like the idea of him being on his own any more since Jiaying had suggested that to me back in Li Shi, yeah?"

"First of all, you haven't 'bossed' anyone," Coulson shook his head. "O'Brian and his people are experienced agents and know when they are being bossed for nothing or not. Secondly, you really should've told us about Cal having a new girlfriend all the same."

"Why? What would we do next? Split them up or something?" Daisy said huffily. "This sort of tactic didn't work with Grant and Kara, not really, remember? The Arctic mission? Moreover, Cal was never a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., what do you think that he has done? Resurrected and rejuvenated Jiaying yet _again_?"

There was a pause as everyone thought this over. "Why not?" Rosalind finally rejoined the conversation, as she returned from the quinnjet's toilet (she had to go, after all). "From the way Phil was talking about him, the man sounds quite intelligent, and he had resurrected his wife once, he can probably do it again."

"Yes, but, T.A.H.I.T.I.?" Daisy said weakly.

"Isn't perfect," Coulson pointed out, not unreasonable. "No offence, but can I see the reports of O'Brian and his people? It is a request, not an order-"

"I'll hand them over, no problem," Daisy shrugged, "but we should land first."

"We're about to start that, so director, can you help Ms. Rosalind get strapped in?" Grant's voice came over the quinnjet's comm.-link: he has been flying the machine in question all this time, rather than Melinda, who was listening, thoughtfully, to the discussion of others.

"Right, my bad," Coulson replied, sounding rather rueful, for once. "Lost the track of time, and – is it evening already?"

"Yes, we _did_ cross several time zones, flying from England back to H.Q.," Melinda pointed out, not unreasonably, as she and Daisy helped Coulson with Rosalind. "Phil, are you okay?"

"Mostly shaken that the situation turned to be really unexpected. We _did_ tell you that we've run into agent Romanoff, right?" Coulson turned to her.

"No, not really," Melinda admitted, so Coulson (with some help from the others), re-told her their Paris adventure. When he was finished, it was Melinda's turn to frown.

"This isn't good," the Oriental agent confessed. "Barton's marriage couldn't have made Natasha happy, not considering her own love life – or lack of it. We, _you_ , really should have gotten her to come with us: even on TV, the entire Avenger-vs.-Avenger battle had been quite ghastly. I don't like thinking what it was for her in the middle of the action per se."

"You've seen it on TV?" Daisy blinked.

"Who hadn't?" Melinda pointed out, not unreasonably, at the obvious, decided to avoid admitting that she did it alongside Stephanie: Daisy was right, she _did not_ know how to handle Melinda's interest in helping Stephanie Malick, however slightly, and Andrew _had_ to be told, for the obvious reasons.

"Agreed," Coulson spoke up suddenly. "Plus, it's Romanoff. She knows where she stands with us and among us. If she will change her mind, she will come – and meanwhile, I did not want to start a fight with Roz being with us on one hand, and Natasha's, well, the other Avengers' too, I suppose, 'pet' on the other."

"The FitzSimmons had identified it as an andrewsarchus, a distant carnivorous cousin to sheep and goats," Grant said helpfully, as he emerged from the pilot's cabin. "We've landed. We can get out now."

"Good," Daisy muttered, as she stood onto her feet with a stretch. "God, is it just me or what? Today was very low-key, for us, yet I feel rather…tired?"

"It's the time zones," Melinda explained, looking somewhat less her usual self. "This why I hate this sort of thing – flying back and forth, dawn to dusk…honestly, fighting and similar activities actually make it easier to endure, you know?"

While discussing so, the two women helped Coulson and Grant get Rosalind off the plane. Bringing Rosalind along, (yes, it was her idea, which helped to get her to Paris), should've put Dr. Granier more at ease and/or off balance, but it worked, albeit to a lesser extent, with the Black Widow too. That said, Rosalind wouldn't be doing more like this for a while, and-

"Hey, big brother. Director," Raina sidled towards them, looking uncomfortable. "Can agent May make her peace with the FitzSimmons, _somehow_? This intermediary thing, it's not _my_ thing-"

"Raina," Grant said gently, "you're not talking to us here about that because of May's feud with the FitzSimmons. What are you really on about?"

"Does either the director or agent May know a former cadet or low-level agent named Djeeta? Because less than an hour ago she contacted us and said that she needs help from S.H.I.E.L.D. in general. Apparently, she needs help. In addition, the FitzSimmons know her, or rather _of_ her, from her and their academy days, and think that she needs help and her story checks out so far. You should run it by them, still."

"…Someone was talking about low-key missions being worse than high-key," Daisy told May. "Jinx?"

Melinda just shook her head. Some weeks were like this – no action for a while, and then an explosion of missions. Ah well, this was the life of an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

 _TBC_


	20. Chapter 20

**Because Raina (part 20)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

It _wasn't_ a dark and stormy night. In fact, the weather outside was somewhat overcast, but only slightly, with breaks of clear sky mixed in with the wispy, foggy clouds. The plants around them were green and growing; the smell was…the smell was-

"What _is_ this stench?" Daisy muttered crossly. "The last time I remember something bad like this was when I went to a zoo and the camels, who were giving the children rides, got sick. However, we are in Latin America. There are not any wild camels! Right?"

"Oh, no," Bobbi muttered, (she and Mack had come to give the FitzSimmons backup, just as Daisy and Grant did). "If only these were camels. No. "I'm afraid that these are Pablo Escobar's escape hippopotamuses – I remember them smelling just like this on one of my African missions."

"A narcobaron's hippos?"

"No, just wild hippos, Skye – I mean, Daisy," the bigger woman muttered. "They all smell the same, you know?"

"Drug barons or hippos?" Daisy asked, doing her best not to give away the humor in her question.

"Both," Bobbi gave the shorter woman a look. "You're feeling oddly talkative today?"

Daisy shot her a look.

"Point," Bobbi admitted. "Are you feeling nervous?"

"The Mrs. is about to give birth any day now, so – yeah," Daisy (Skye?) shrugged. "I _am_ less nervous than I thought that I would be, I am less upset than I would've been, but I'm still not exactly thrilled with the situation, or know how to handle it. Plus – hippos? In Latin America? How's this for a topic of conversation?"

Bobbi drummed her fingers, but before she could reply, Mack did.

"Few years back – well, more than just 'a few', actually – S.H.I.E.L.D. had tangled with La Gente. It wasn't as easy or fun as we had expected it to be."

"La Gente is a drug cartel, right?" Daisy asked, cautiously.

"'Was' is the key word here. For the last few years it was on the downswing – especially after Elario Carcavera got sentenced a life sentence – and lately it might be gone altogether," Mack was more thoughtful than anything else. "Overall it sounds like a good thing, but I cannot feel that we're missing something here, something big. Ward – you've been to Latin America, right?"

"I've been, once to the continent of South America," Grant nodded. "It involved a lost civilization in the Amazon rainforest. Those rumors about this new child prodigy, who may have uncovered a lost city? They are correct. There is a lost city, and more, in the rainforest. S.H.I.E.L.D. kept it under protection. Well, Victoria Hand and her faction did. John, he would rather have me give it up…but I 'presumed' that he didn't care either way, whether or not I would give it up to the Serpent Society, so I didn't. The magic of beast-gods and all…"

"…I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" Bobbi blinked.

"…Among the aliens who were most involved on Earth were the Skrulls and the Kree. The Kree were known as blue angels or gods; the Skrulls – as green demons, rakshasas, or… beast-gods. The Kree – well, I have heard that you have met a Kree in battle, so you have an idea what they are like. The Skrulls are less technologically advanced, but they are naturally born shapeshifters, so you get the idea, right? The mission I have been on, involved a settlement, not unlike Skye's and Lincoln's Li Shi, but more homogenous, I guess the right word is? Just think Jerome and his kind, only more human-looking – no horns or hooves there!"

"…You know," Bobbi, who used to be Victoria Hand's own protégé, just as Grant used to be John Garrett's, spoke thoughtfully: "I think I remember hearing something about this from agent- _Ms._ Hand. She was certainly very happy on that day, regarding these news-"

"And this is as far I'm going to take this," Grant said firmly. "Me and your S.O.? We never had good, solid terms, and nowadays? They still are not. Mack, can we please get back to your story?"

"I don't have _a story_ ," Mack did not sound much better than Grant did. "All I can say that is that La Gente used to be a big deal in these parts, and now it seems to have disappeared completely. It reminds me of Hydra. I do not like it when something reminds me of Hydra. Tremors, how's the quinnjet?"

"I've been checking on Raina and Lincoln regularly enough," Daisy replied promptly, "so far so good."

"Good. The sooner the FitzSimmons pick up Ms. Djeeta and take her to us, the sooner we can leave. Moreover, the sooner we can leave, the better. In these parts, there's always someone who fancies himself being the starter of the next Medellin cartel," Mack muttered. "Daisy, you said-"

"Yeah, there are, there _is_ a vague paper trail that someone is buying and making cheap explosives around these parts," Daisy admitted. "I talked to Joey, to Slingshot, to the werewolf, Hell even to Marion, even though she isn't part of my team, but she _used to be_ in this business, remember? So far, the picture is coming up that someone local is behind this, not Hydra, or AIM, or anyone big and international. Apparently, the S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol is to let the local authorities handle this?"

"Yes, but the local authorities-" Mack didn't finish, as he was interrupted by Grant:

"The FitzSimmons are returning. They got Djeeta with them, but there are…complications."

/ / /

There were. Ms. Djeeta was thick, easily over 100 kg in weight. It _was_ her – the eyes, reminiscent of her Hindu heritage; the dusky skin; the dark hair – it was all her, as depicted on the images, acquired from the S.H.I.E.L.D. archive. The rest of her, however, was something else. The face sprouted a generous second chin, making it rounder in shape, as it merged with her neck and jowls. Her breasts were sagging from their weight, resting on her paunch, which too was hanging low – and would have hanged even lower if the love handles were not pushing outwards and upwards instead. Her ass, too, was bulging and heavy, supported by thick thighs, which turned into fat knees, which turned into fat calves. The woman – not much older than the FitzSimmons themselves – was moving as fast as she could, which was not very fast, yet she was obviously struggling.

"Whoa!" Bobbi gasped. "I say! I didn't know that you had problems with the thyroid!"

"I don't know what I have problems with, specifically," Djeeta gasped back, as she wheezed, (only in part from desperation, but still). "Would you believe me that it is that one day I woke up like this? And that I barely remembered what has happened to me before?"

"Oh? What _is_ the last thing that you remember?" Bobbi asked, as the men began to help Djeeta over to the (disguised) quinnjet and Daisy and the FitzSimmons covered the rear. (Yes, the FitzSimmons were much more confident now in the field, but they were still happier in a lab.)

"The last definite thing? I made a business deal with Mr. McLintok about my mini-centrifuge gears," Djeeta exhaled, "we signed an agreement, I moved into my new home, the production began, and things grew hazy soon after – and by 'things' I mean 'memories'."

"Brainwashing?" Daisy asked the FitzSimmons in the rear (no pun intended).

"Sounds more like drugs of some sort. Bobbi is right, someone has been messing, deliberately or otherwise, with Ms. Djeeta's hormones and body chemistry," Jemma replied, thoughtfully. "This is less efficient and productive than brainwashing is, especially in the long run, so Hydra didn't really practice it-"

"This probably _isn't_ Hydra," Daisy shook her head. "Maybe Talbot is right and it _is_ gone, but it _doesn't_ matter that the world is going to become a Paradise on Earth without it. In fact…Mack is right – better one bad dog than a swarm of crazy rats-"

"Don't take my words out of context!" Mack yelled back. "I was talking about the Watchdogs crowd in particular! Not the entirety of the world politics in general!"

Djeeta half-laughed half-coughed. Grant suddenly stopped and turned around. "Incoming!" he shouted. The agents whirled, just in time to see several people – armed with mini-Uzis and the like – arrive on the scene and fire several warning shots. Fortunately, their firearms were not the best at a distance. Unfortunately, (for the new arrivals), the local hippos did not like this development and charged, or perhaps even stampede, as a single unit.

"…You know," Bobbi Morse broke the silence, (which appeared only _after_ the hippo herd has left the scene), "when you think of a stampede, you think of antelopes and buffalos, maybe rhinos and elephants – _not_ of hippos. And then some leader of a hippo herd acquires _this_ sort of an idea, and tadah!"

"Bobbi, zip it and let's leave," Raina spoke, even as she lowered their plane's ramp. (Lincoln was waiting in the cockpit). "I do not like the idea of being shot at with any firearms. Moreover, this nature special about sharks that Lincoln is currently listening to? No, just no."

There was a pause as the others thought it over. "Meh, fair enough, let's go," Fitz, (who had been rather silent this evening), spoke up at last, voicing everyone's general opinion.

So off they went.

/ / /

 _Some time later…_

"So, D.C. and the Mrs. are-"

"Yes. While you were in Latin America, dodging bullets and avoiding stampedes," Melinda replied with a straight face (i.e. the one that she had usually wore, even lately, though not as much), "Rosalind went into labor. Kara – who _is_ a gynecologist, after all – helped her deliver him. A.J. Coulson, that is. Aaron Joshua. Marion was there. Curtis was there. Mr. Gourd and Mr. Fungus were there-"

"Say who now?" Daisy blinked.

"Mr. Gourd and Mr. Fungus – one of the arts and crafts project that agent Schlangenschavntz and her people are teaching our children," May grimaced. "There's also Mr. Flytrap, Mr. Lotus and others."

"They're self-made dolls, aren't they?" Daisy nodded sagely. "There was a similar arts and crafts project back in St. Agnes. How do you know that Gourd and Fungus are men and not women?"

"Daisy, this doesn't befit you," May said sternly…but not much: this was just between the two of them, after all. "Curtis and Suzy Therese are so young-"

"They're here together? Just the two of them? What about Mason?"

"Mason's here too. So are few of their friends, including Ace Petersen," May replied, going for Zen, but not quite succeeding. "Good for them. Little Coulson should start having plenty of friends at a young age-"

"Well, there are already his big brother and _his_ friends. There is Suzy's own sibling that is due in five months or so. There are Mack and Bobbi, who should have a child of their own…soon enough. There will be other couples in the future. There is even you and Andrew – you sure that you're _not_ pregnant?"

"No, I'm not. Sure, that is. Pregnant, on the other hand," May looked askance at the younger woman. "Shouldn't you-"

"You want a normal reaction? You should probably ask Stephanie over there," Daisy jabbed her finger towards the _other_ woman in the room who was not Melinda. "Me? I am figuring out this family thing for real now, so I still need training wheels – _but_ I'm sure that I don't want to lose it: you know this, May…I mean, Melinda, I mean-" Daisy completely confused herself at this point, so she switched her attention back to Stephanie proper. "So, err, what are you doing here? Hydra is gone – you've heard general Talbot and the president over the news – you don't need our help if you want a fresh start-"

"It isn't just about a fresh start," Stephanie looked and sounded almost as lost as Daisy was just moments ago. "It's about having a place to belong that isn't just defined by money. Make no mistake, money is marvelous, and if I ever get the rest of my father's money outside of what the state and Her Majesty had allotted to me, it wouldn't be an entirely bad thing – not at all, but money alone doesn't work. My father tried it in regards to Hydra, and it did not work. In the end…well, agent Johnson can tell you better about it than me."

"Agreed," Daisy nodded, "but what do you want? I'm sorry if you've already told M-Melinda, but can you tell me too?"

"I want in," Stephanie looked embarrassed. "I can have a – regular life even with the money that I have as opposed to the money that my family used to have, but I don't want it. Not now," she looked away. "Can I, can we-"

"You know this isn't too different or otherworldly from what 'regular people' have," Daisy pointed out, not unreasonably. "We're just…unconventional?"

"I currently have 960 million dollars U.S. in my property," Stephanie replied in a similar tone. "How is this 'regular'? Did you have 960 million dollars when you were 'regular'?"

"I was never 'regular'. I lived in a van," Daisy looked Stephane right in the eye – the blonde did not back down:

"How was it like?" she asked instead.

"It was liberating. It was also lonely," Daisy confessed. "I'm guessing that you can relate? Maybe?"

"Let's settle on 'maybe'," Stephanie spoke, sagely. "Let's go from here." There was a pause and the two women shook hands, before turning their attention back to Melinda, who was looking almost lost (at least by normal human standards).

"Melinda?" Daisy and Stephanie carefully sat down on either side of the (chronologically) older woman. "You know how you were almost worried about the two of us having issues with each other? Well, right now we have resolved some of the initial ones – honest. We can move onwards now."

"Really?" Melinda did not sound very convinced.

"Really," Stephanie and Daisy exchanged a look and hugged Melinda (cautiously, because she was not quite big on hugging still).

"…Okay," Melinda spoke after a while, when it became obvious that she _did_ enjoy being hugged (by other people than just Andrew). "This is nice, but let's not overdo it. Okay?" Her tone implied something different, but Daisy and Stephanie complied all the same.

"Right," Stephanie reached into her handbag. "I've also come with an offering? See?" she produced a clipping from today's newspaper (a British one, as opposed to one from the U.S.). "Does this sort of thing interests S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

…The other two women took their time as they read an article about what was supposed to be South America's response to InGen's 'Jurassic World' – the so-called 'Pliocene Park', which was supposed to featuring Ice Age animals rather than dinosaurs. The photos in the newspaper were not the best quality, but the prehistoric animals and flightless birds depicted on them seemed to be a real deal rather than some sort of a fake.

"Daisy? This 'Pliocene Park' has a website-" Melinda began, but the younger agent, (naturally), was already at it:

"There," she said, as she opened the site in question. "Oh boy. We were down there and we missed it-"

"Daisy, you were in Central America. This is a different place altogether," Melinda grew thoughtful – very thoughtful. "All right, you two – let's go and talk to Coulson. I think I have an idea."

Stephanie was not very subtle, especially by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standards, but she looked askance at Daisy. "Yes, you should be concerned," the latter replied. "But we're with her all the same."

/ / /

The trio found Coulson in the corridor, even as he was closing the door. "Shh," he said, looking flustered. "Joshua is asleep. Please, let's be quiet."

Melinda and her new entourage just nodded and allowed the director to lead them away from the room.

"So, why you were looking for us?" the man asked shortly after, when they were sufficiently away from Rosalind and Joshua. "How went the mission, I'm sorry, I should've asked-"

"Don't," Daisy shook her head. "We've saved Ms. Djeeta, but she had been drugged in a bad way for a while: Bobbi and Jemma took her to the medwing straight away – Raina and Lincoln, Grant and maybe Kara are there to act as medical staff, just in case. The M.O. doesn't appear to be Hydra's, neither Grant nor Jemma think so, but this doesn't mean anything, you know?"

"I do," Coulson nodded simply. "What else?"

Daisy shrugged and gave the rest of the details about the mission, including the thugs with the mini-Uzis and the herd of feral hippos. By the time she was finished, Coulson was genuinely astonished.

"Of all the things that tended to go sideways, hippos isn't what you expect from Latin America," he admitted. "To be honest, I'm not surprised that they're trouble: the crazy ears, the beady eyes, you just look at one and know that it is thinking of eating you. The mouth alone, and the teeth-"

"Sir, now that that is out of our way," Daisy said delicately, "agent May has something to share with you-" and Melinda gave Coulson the newspaper clipping.

Coulson read it over – slowly, attentively, often stopping to think.

"Something doesn't add up," he finally drummed his fingers. "Resurrecting prehistoric animals isn't easy – after Hammond's initial disaster it took his heirs years to recover, even with Masrani's help. Australia's financial situation is fairly secure at this moment, in no small part because they do not go for financial adventures and scams, but the country was also hit fairly hard by InGen's testing on their _own_ prehistoric reptiles. In addition, Brazil, who, supposedly, is running this show, has much more problems with the budget, oh yeah. No, make that past tense – they had problems before this, to accomplish something of this magnitude and keep it concealed would be impossible for them. Something does not quite add up. We should check it out – to prevent it from going the way of 'Jurassic World', if anything."

"Good, my idea exactly," May spoke brightly. "You, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., will take your wife and children and go and check this place out, grand opening and all. You owe Rosalind something already, seeing how she had your son _before_ you two got married."

"It's not my fault alone," Coulson looked askance. "We got the pregnancy date wrong… It will have to be in a semi-official capacity at least – the tickets will be next to impossible to get otherwise."

"Done," Stephanie nodded. "Um, agent Johnson says that they'll be happy to cooperate – to prevent any sort of mess that the late Masrani and his people have created. Apparently, what you've done, or doing in Australia has made a positive impression on them?"

"I'll need – _we'll_ need bodyguards," Coulson looked completely serious at this point. "For all the reasons, obvious or otherwise."

"Mack was in Central America, Grant was in South America, start with them," Daisy replied. "Mack, in particular, in the mess hall right now, so you can start with him?"

Coulson nodded in agreement.

/ / /

Mack, or, more fully, agent Mackenzie, was indeed in the mess hall, playing chess with agent Fitz, a.k.a. Leo. "Hello, sir," he greeted Coulson. "How's the wife and children? What's up?"

"A herd of feral hippos, apparently," Coulson replied wryly, before sobering up, somewhat.

"Don't remind me," Leo muttered from the shadow of Mack. (Given their respective sizes, well…) "And Grant and Bobbi, it seems, have encountered hippos before – in one of their missions to Africa. They claim that we got lucky – pound for pound, a hippopotamus can be just as dangerous to humans as a man-eating lion or a rogue elephant."

"Yes, hold this thought," Coulson spoke in his usual bland cheer, as he produced the 'Pliocene Park' info to them. "If we're talking about South America-"

"If we're talking about South America…sir…" Mack looked embarrassed. "I'm a military engineer, not a field agent, remember? I was part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s military info against the La Gente, as were Bobbi and Palamas, for example. Hunter too, I think. I do not really do the whole squicky detail thing very well-"

"Yeah, which is why you've been talking my ear of about this La Gente thing," Leo muttered crossly. "You really cannot let it go?"

"I can and I have," Mack sounded highly insulted. "The _Iliad_ was a highly mobile ship – made in Australia, you know? One day we would be fighting in South America, for example, the next we participated in the agency's war effect in the Wakandan civil war, for example." He pursed his lips and looked clearly upset at the mention of the African nation in question.

"Problems?" Coulson asked, softly.

"More like issues," Mack admitted, "I don't like Black Panther and his people. I am sorry for the loss of his father, but nothing else. Wakanda is like the Russia of Africa – they fluctuate from introverted nationalism to extraverted consumerism and back. I do not know why Rogers has chosen to throw his lot with this nation, but I am not sure how well it will work out in the end. Supporting the Black Panther cult over that of the White Ape _was_ a good thing, but I don't know just how much."

"Why is that?" Daisy asked softly, but Mack chose how to interpret the question (he could be subtle, after all).

"Because the White Ape cultists were cannibals – right out of a Conan novel or something," he replied flatly. "The Black Panther followers are not – go on, sir, you choose. However, my opinion on Wakanda in total remains unchanged. Period."

"…And then there are the Sokovian Accords," Leo filled in the silence smoothly – it wasn't really in Mack's character to talk so much, but apparently the latest events had shifted something in his psyche just the right way – or perhaps his earlier interactions with Mason, Suzy Therese and their friends had done the shifting. Who knows? "General Talbot was here earlier, while you were busy with the Mrs. He and the president want to know your stance on it…once your family situation got stabilized, of course. Talbot is not as stupid as we may want him to be. Sir."

"I see. And what is _his_ stance on the Accords?"

"He follows the president's lead," Leo said, looking carefully and attentively at Coulson. "Personally, I'm starting to think that Grant, Bobbi and the others are correct – Xavier's people have went through something similar in the 1990s, after _their_ civil war, after this senator Kelly character had pushed this idea through. It did not amount to anything-"

"Actually, it did. It was the basis of our own Index," Coulson said softly.

"And did it work, sir?" Leo did not back down.

"Actually, it sort of does – as an index," Daisy admitted, surprising both Leo and Phil. "It's not the best idea of S.H.I.E.L.D., I suppose, but it is still useful. I kind of keep it going in regards to the other InHumans and the like, especially after Jerome and Italy – that's when Hunter tried to harass an antelope, remember?"

"Yeah," Mack, (who actually been there, alongside Daisy herself and May), nodded. " _Not_ one of Lance's best moments, let me tell you. So you _don't_ have a problem with the situation?"

"I don't have a problem with the _Index_ , or S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stance on the InHumans," Daisy confessed. "Shouldn't the Accords affect only the Avengers?"

"They affect everyone with powers," Coulson said simply. "Including S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Including you."

"As a private citizen I don't like it. As an agent…sir, I _am_ an agent," Daisy looked down, upset but resolute. "The events of Li Shi…I made my choice, sir. So have everyone else here. What happens with the Accords is up to you, especially at first."

"Thanks," Coulson said dryly (for some reason this admission of Daisy did not make him as happy as he once thought that it would make). "Now about the 'Pliocene Park' situation?.."

"I'll take it – as a 'bodyguard', sir," Mack nodded. "I'm not sure about Bobbi, however, for the obvious reasons-"

"If I can make a suggestion," Marion St. James, Coulson's de-facto stepdaughter, said softly, as she joined the group, surprising them, (slightly), "then I think I know someone who can help. He isn't a friend, but he is honest, especially if money is involved."

"We're listening," Coulson replied in an equally soft, cautious tone.

Marion expanded her suggestion.

 _TBC_


	21. Chapter 21

**Because Raina (part 21)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this story contains characters from the Runaways._

 _Note 2: Burke is a character from Velvet Templeton™ comics._

 _Note 3: this chapter is rated M for some of its scenes._

When Daisy awoke, it was… a later period of time, (though still early in the morning) than the time that she was used to be waking up. "Uh!" she muttered to no one in particular, "those last 3 days were something else! I never realized how much D.C. and his family meant for us here until they were gone."

"Well, _someone_ had woken up in a philosophical frame of mind," Jemma Simmons, one of Daisy's closest friends, replied sarcastically, even though Daisy was merely speaking aloud – as she pointed out to Simmons, alongside-

"WTF are you doing here, anyhow, Jemma?" she finished to the scientist in question. "This isn't your bunk at all!"

"Um, well, you see," Jemma floundered, "it's all because of-"

"Ribbit!"

"-frogs," the Englishwoman pointed to one of the amphibians in question. "They kind of gotten away from us?" she finished, weakly, sounding more as if she was making a question than a statement. "Um, oops?"

Daisy gave her friend a good hard look and began to get dressed. "I refuse to start hunting frogs in my underwear," she told the Englishwoman. "What were you planning on doing with them, anyhow?"

"Breed them in bulk and sell them on e-bay?" Jemma shrugged. "But seriously, we just needed a few for experiments…but we have acquired more of them than we'd thought-"

"'We'? Who's that 'we'?" Daisy asked suspiciously, believing already that she would not like the answer. She did not, but not quite for the reason that she was suspicious for.

"This is what _I_ would like to know," Kara replied instead, as she joined Daisy and Jemma in Daisy's sleeping quarters. "Raina and Jemma came with few crazy ideas, got even crazier with frogs, and now it's _my_ mess as well. Daisy, I am sorry for having you woken up. So're the rest of the girls," she indicated both Jemma, who would really be anywhere else but here, and Raina, who was peaking, warily, from behind Kara with just one golden eye with the similar facial expression. "Could you help, please? With the frogs, I mean?"

Daisy gave Kara a look that was absolutely devoid of humor, good-natured, casual, or any other. Kara returned it, equally flatly. "Girls," Jemma said softly, but with a hint of iron underneath. "Stop it. Please. We are not enemies' here-"

"Of course not," Daisy said flatly. "Just because we're not friends-"

"Stop it." Now the iron was for good in Jemma's voice. "I mean – yes, people don't have to be friends; in fact, one of the main tenets in a person's life is that if you're friends with everybody, you're not really friends with anybody – unless you're Pinkie Pie from MLP: FIM… never mind," she briefly flushed pink, but then grew serious once more. "Where was I? Yes, most people are not friends or enemies to each other, but then again, most people _are not_ a team, or even a department, not like us. Daisy, you used to talk about pieces solving a puzzle. That is a good metaphor, it is just that, conversely, for a puzzle to be solved, all pieces have to work together, otherwise the result is distorted-"

"Jemma, you cannot force people to be friends," Daisy said softly. "If you want to fix Kara's social life, start with Bobbi-"

"Actually, we already fixed that," Kara spoke with sarcasm that undermined, rather than belied, her statement.

"Or rather, even _I_ am not as naïve to tackle this sort of issue by myself – I'll leave it to Dr. Garner and his family...which now includes you, sorry..." Jemma shook her head and got back on track, no matter how herculean effort it took. "We, Kara and you-"

"Excuse me," Lance joined the women, "but why are there frogs? Never mind. Daisy, can you come over to the front gates? Remember, when you told us about those children and their magical horsey? I'm sorry for doubting you, but this is _still_ something that you need to deal with."

"Oh?" Daisy frowned and went to the front door. Lance, sadly, was right – it was something, (or rather someone), to deal with.

/ / /

 _A brief time later…_

"Daisy? Good morning," Andrew told the young woman warmly, even as she entered his office, while he was entertaining Melinda, and – his in-laws. "Did you hear about the frogs? Stephanie got Bobbi to help catch them out, apparently, it's NOT a hazing thing, but-"

"Good morning, Andrew," Daisy smiled warmly herself, before switching her attention over to the older couple and their daughter (i.e. Melinda). "And good morning to you too," she told them. "It's _so_ nice to see you _here_ -"

"What did they do this time?" Melinda said wearily – and warily.

"Not them, our mascot," Daisy pointed to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own resident dinosaur, which was discovered, initially, by Grant, Kara, and the others in northern Greece, _not_ as a part of InGen™ program, but still. "Chase, Gertrude, they're here!"

In came the Runaways' couple; this time, Molly was not with them, but Old Lace was. Considering that the human Runaways were carrying a basket full of raptor hatchlings, the reason for them being here was not too mysterious for anyone.

"Iyeah!" Melinda's father said loudly. "Is your dinosaur coming from a good family?"

"Holy crap, it's a miracle. They DO understand English now," Chase said sarcastically, and got cuffed on the side of his head for his trouble.

"Don't be snappy with me, young man!" Melinda's father said loudly. "We got granddaughters old enough to be your mother!"

"Not all of them," Melinda said softly, looking embarrassed (this was her parents' superpower after all). "The youngest won't be born for a while."

"Melinda? Congratulations," Daisy gave the older (not the OLDEST) woman in the room a hug. "When did this happen?"

"A while back," Melinda looked even more embarrassed now. "Do you want me to explain how?"

There was a pause, which ended with Melinda face palming herself, at least by her standards.

"How about we resolve the frog situation instead?" Daisy said brightly, "and by 'we' I mean mostly 'us' – you can oversee it or something."

"I'm no invalid," Melinda said testily, "and Kara is further along than I am, anyhow-"

"Fair enough," the woman in question nodded calmly, "but Raina and I need to give Daisy a talk about the birds and the bees – InHuman version. You want to listen in as a different perspective?"

"Gladly!" Melinda said brightly, "and not just because I don't really want to listen in on a custody battle over here."

"There is no custody battle!" her mother yelled back (for no good reason). "Is their dinosaur even from a good family?"

"Why, I never!" Gert puffed-up, almost literally. "Old Lace is the real deal – none of this InGen™ crap!"

"Whom are you accusing of being crap, young lady?!"

The room was empty save for the dinosaur family and their caretakers (on both sides) in a manner of minutes.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"Mack? What is eating you?" Coulson asked, as his family settled down after an (admittedly exciting) day in South America. "Is it Burke-"

"No, that's more of your thing, though you appear to have made some peace with him now-"

"Not exactly," Coulson grimaced, "more like a matter of communication misfire – he mentioned Dominic Fortune, trying to make a good impression, and as you may or may not know, Dominic is an ally of S.H.I.E.L.D. especially before he had retired, but he was even less reliable than Hunter and Morse were, back when they were together," he shot Mack an apologetic look. "Burke tried to make a good first impression – it didn't work, so yeah-"

"Acknowledged, and about anyone – or anything – else?"

"Mack, who is the director here?" Coulson gave the bigger man a pointed look. "Seriously, shouldn't I be bouncing ideas off of you, here?"

"Sorry," Mack shrugged. "What do you think, Turbo?"

"I think," Fitz replied, more to Coulson than to Mack, "that your Mrs. has made some sort of a plan with my Jemma. Is it a typical situation in any heterosexual relationship?"

"Yes," Mack answered instead, "the sticky thing is where a couple is going with this. Why are you sure that there is a plan?"

"Jemma is on a MLP: FIM kick lately – friendship everywhere and all over the place," Fitz grimaced. "I am all for friendship, but Jemma isn't above forcing the issue, I'm afraid-"

"Is it about you and Ward?"

"And Daisy and Kara too, for that matter," Leo admitted. "It isn't a bad thing that I have stopped hating Ward and am trying to be the bigger man here, but Daisy and Kara are different; for one thing, they _don't_ have any history between each other, so forcing _anything_ down their throat would be just daft. What do you think of the animals and everything else, director?"

"Let's go over them," Coulson nodded, happy to see that Leo was able to end his rant of his own will. "What, or whom, have we seen?"

"The macrauchenias," Leo grew thoughtfully. "Some of the genuinely 'ethnic' South American mammals. The llamas with trunks, really. Personally, I think that they look quite adorable."

"And harmless," Mack added. "Always a big plus in my book. In addition, unlike the dinosaurs, they are not huge, you know – more manageable size. Next?"

"The sabre-toothed cats," Leo continued. "Anything but harmless."

"This is going to be a problem," Coulson confessed. "Back when I was your age," he turned to Leo, "I had to go onto a mission in Rhodesia: there, some 'enterprising' people had trained cheetahs to attack other people – with differently colored skin… I cannot help but to suspect that Brazil and its allies will utilize the sabre-toothed cats for this purpose…"

"It's possible," Mack admitted without an argument. "On the Iliad, we had to deal with such cases, especially in Africa, though usually it was hyenas, or leopards – more robust animals than cheetahs, and the matter of _color_ wasn't as straightforward as you might think, sir." He paused and continued, thoughtfully. "Furthermore, I doubt that it will be raised here – the matter of color, if they will use and train sabre-toothed cats-"

"And they probably will – to a limited extent," Marion suddenly joined the discussion. "Um, should I butt out?"

"No, go on-"

"The cats behave like modern African lions – they have some sort of a pack instinct, so they can be trained to follow a leader…at least to a point. Dogs will be better, but the cats will pack a bigger punch… What? I once dated a lion tamer from a circus – not my best moment, but still…"

"Fair enough," Mack nodded. "Maybe you can get him a job here? I _was_ wondering, sort of, where La Gente and similar cartels had disappeared to in the last few years – now I know. They have been incorporated into this enterprise. This could get tricky-"

"Wait, what?" Coulson blinked. "When?"

"While you were distracted by the terror birds," Mack muttered. "I had my suspicions from the start of the tour, and this just confirmed it. I've recognized 'Caliban' and the others from the years past – they may've turned a new leaf, but for better or for worse, who knows?"

"Burke can get in touch with them," Marion spoke, but not in a too pushy a manner.

"No need. They're no friends of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I would rather keep our distance," Mack confessed. "Of course, if it was a choice between a drug cartel and terror birds-"

"You're unfair to the birds," Leo disagreed. "They aren't that different from our own mascot – Hell, they _are_ our own mascot, just with more feathers on their bodies. Their wings have claws! They just have beaks instead of properly toothed jaws – and they were no match for the sloths."

"Yes, the elephant in the room, so to speak," Coulson spoke sagely, before adding: "well, _I_ think that it is funny-"

"It is, dad," Curtis piped up from where he was playing with his baby brother, "but also scary – especially for Aaron. I, on the other hand, was not scared at all-"

"Of course not," Rosalind ruffled his hair, affectionally, before doing the same thing to Coulson himself. "You and Phil were very brave, much more so than Marion or me… That said, Phil, it still isn't in a league of the InGen's™ dinosaurs, and you know it."

"True, but it doesn't _have_ to be in the league of InGen's™ dinosaurs to be trouble," Coulson muttered. "But yes, I see where you are going. Sabre-tooth cats can be trained to obey people, giant ground sloths cannot – even the local staff admit it." He paused and added, in a less confident tone. "And, by the way? S.H.I.E.L.D. had been keeping its presence in the local part of South America for _years_ because of these beasts, the mapinguari. It is possible that they did not die out in the past, but had survived into modern times by their own toughness. Now, of course, the point is moot, but it should've been mentioned-"

"What did happen to them? To the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were stationed here?" Leo asked quietly.

"They arrived at the Playground about the same time that Mack and a few others did," Coulson confessed. "Since then, most of them have survived our battles with Hydra and the like."

"Oh. That's good, right," Leo asked, clearly expecting a different answer.

"Yes," Coulson nodded. "Other agents – stationed in Wakanda, in Japan, in Israel, for example – had not. They just vanished into woodwork, and as Mack had pointed out, while there were worse options at the time, it still hurts."

"So, what do we do now?" Marion leaned back, clearly tired (after an exciting day). "Yes, most animals here _are_ dangerous – giant ground sloths the size of elephants with nasty tempers, giant armadillos with Morgenstern-like tails and a knowledge of how to use it – but not exactly threatening the world dangers, are they?"

"No, they are not. The giant armadillos aren't even scary!" Curtis nodded, enthusiastically. "Kind of dopey-looking, if you ask me!" His baby brother yawned. "Also, I think that Aaron is getting sleepy!" Curtis said brightly, and yawned himself.

"Why don't we then go to bed," Rosalind said brightly.

"… _I_ am not sleepy, really," Curtis looked at his new mom, and then made a decision. "But I will keep your company while dad does something sneaky with Marion over here."

"There is nothing sneaky!" Marion protested: even though she knew better, Curtis' comment had stung her for some reason all the same. " _Curtis_ is the one being sneaky-"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Wah!" Aaron decided that he was not sleepy after all; as his parents did their best to calm him down, (alongside the rest of the family), Leo and Mack exchanged a look: this was probably going to be them, (and their partners, of course), in the future…

/ / /

 _Some time later…_

"…So, director, how was your family trip?" Grant asked with a blank face, as Coulson had summoned him and May, Kara and Mack, (along the FitzSimmons) to his office for a further discussion. "Also, is it the real deal?"

"Yes," Coulson nodded. "It is – and more. Mack?"

"The so-called Pliocene Park is an _international_ venture, with the _entire_ South American continent invested in its' success," Mack spoke curtly and professionally. "This is rather reminiscent of the late USSR – Hell, they are beginning to call themselves the Union of South American Countries-"

"USAC?" Kara raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't we _all_ here, sir? No offence to agent Mackenzie-"

"Because I'm trying to change the way I've been handling the information earlier in our lives," Coulson confessed. "I don't want to 'hoard' it, but neither I want to be frivolous with it-" he paused and looked at Grant. "And speaking of information-"

"Daisy has learned some feminine facts about the InHumans," May answered instead. "So have I, for that matter. We could share it with you-"

"Maybe later," Coulson twitched. "Spending some family time was useful and informational, but right now I don't want to discuss feminine matters – _personal_ feminine matters – not until Mack tells the whole thing, since he's more of an expert here, than me."

"I am not – sir," Mack gave the other man a look. "You were joking about me becoming the assistant director, right?"

"We'll see," Coulson spoke neutrally. "Please continue."

"All right," Now Mack looked much more flustered. "The so-called Pliocene Park is an international venture. So far, it seems to be lying outside our area of interest – you know, the InHumans and the like – but this can change. The head honchoes of the park are not above of hiring former drug cartel thugs as muscle, and with drug cartel thugs come connections, no matter how low – or high. For the moment we have no problems or conflicts with this 'USAC' idea, but this can _change_."

"On the other hand," Coulson continued simply, "I will still be reaching out to the UN, and Roz will keep her connections in Washington D.C. and the like in the loop. S.H.I.E.L.D., this S.H.I.E.L.D., is not what it was back in the days of the Winter Soldier mess, but it doesn't mean that we can exist in splendid isolation forever either."

"The Mrs. keeps on talking about you making peace with the president," Kara nodded sagely. "Maybe she is right?"

"Why does everybody call Roz the Mrs.?" Coulson asked, almost despite himself. "I know that you don't dislike her anymore-"

"'Cause you're the director," Fitz replied simply. "Between you, her and your children, there are…just enough Coulsons to be confusing."

There was a pause, as Coulson gave the younger man a look. "Leo, you're grounded," he told the engineer sternly. "Go to your room."

Leo twitched.

The room's comm.-link came to life. "Agent May?" Rosalind's voice was carefully controlled, almost as Melinda's own used to be. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" Melinda kept her poker face on, but no one was fooled by it, not really. "What is it?"

"Why there are dinosaur hatchlings eating frogs? Is there something that I've missed?"

"Yes, you have," Melinda admitted. "Would you believe me that it started few weeks ago, because of a magical horsey?"

/ / /

"So, how was your meeting?" Daisy asked Grant later, when the two agents were just with each other once more.

"Informative," Grant admitted as he sat down next to her. "So, what did I miss while I was piloting Coulson and the others over to Brazil?"

"Raina and Kara gave me The Talk. I had Jemma and M-ma in my corner so I should not complain, but it was still informative. Raina providing the visuals was something else as well."

"So how are you feeling?" Grant asked simply. "About this all, on all levels?"

"That we will have children together in the future? The same. That I may end up looking like a Kardashian cousin? Not so much."

"Well, _I_ think that after your face your butt and legs are some of your best features," Grant said brightly. "Extra weight there would be a _good_ thing – in moderation!"

"Of all the times to act shallow, you decide to do so now?" Daisy glared, but the glare was not very thorough.

"Sorry, dear, but I _am_ a man who is interested in your best assets – sorry," Grant backed down at Daisy's glare. "But, where are you going with this, other than the obvious?"

"I don't know," Daisy confessed. "Will you still love me-?"

"Yes," Grant said simply. "Do you really think that I will stop loving you because of a big ass? Well, bigger ass, if you want to get honest-"

"I want you to lie and to say that it is smaller than Kara's, for example," Daisy swatted at him.

"Can I say that it is smaller than Bobbi's is, instead?" Grant gave his girlfriend a look.

"…I'll take it. Did you see the sabre-toothed cats?"

"Yes. Also the terror birds and some sort of a hornless rhinoceros – only it wasn't a rhinoceros," Grant said firmly. "Daisy, unlike Hammond's dream, the so-called Pliocene Park is more than just an entertainment park – the governments of South America plan to utilize prehistoric beasts in all sort of manner possible, including in law enforcement, as Coulson is already worried about, and for food. While Coulson and the Mrs. were attending the conference, I have talked with few people who ate it – Thomas Holt from Canada and Miranda de Esteban from Mexico, for example. Apparently, it isn't bad, especially if salted or canned."

"Meat from resurrected prehistoric animals?"

"Yes."

"…I don't know how I feel about this," Daisy confessed. "Even Hammond didn't try it with _his_ creations, and neither did Masrani – and _he_ was crazy enough, and Hoskins was nasty enough, to try and do something like this. Did you get contact information from, or about, those two people? I think we should keep an eye on this, just in case."

"Deal," Grant nodded solemnly. "Did Melinda tell the truth, BTW? About the frogs and whatever?"

"That Jemma and Raina thought that, if treated properly, frogs can help Kara with gynecology and the like?" Daisy turned red. "Yes, they have. Kara decided to bury the hatchet with Bobbi – that is, make peace with her, not bury her into a grave alongside a hatchet – and called her down and had her tell us a story about a previous attempt to do something like this, before S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen – a long time before. It was kind of embarrassing – but in a good manner." She paused. "And then we get into a discussion of how Raina likes Lincoln and has no idea of how to go about it, and you don't look very surprised-"

"I'm not," Grant admitted. "Even when we lived down in Australia, Lincoln was always closest to Raina. At first, she probably reminded him of Li Shi, and then, of course, they had similar interests, especially when it came down to the InHumans, so they bonded." He paused. "And they're similarly old-fashioned – Raina is a virgin, apparently, and Lincoln is just this sort of a man to appreciate it."

"Really?" Daisy stared. "Raina's a virgin?!"

"My sentiments exactly – but yes. She could try to come off all-seductive and everything, but she would never do the final push that would initiate the actual physical contact. Considering that I've met genuine seduction specialists, such as Bobbi Morse and Kaminsky, I could tell the difference."

Daisy blinked. "…Kaminsky was a seduction specialist? I mean I heard him, but I thought that he was just making it up."

"He isn't, but I was never interested in this sort of knowledge," Grant confessed. "Anyways, back to Lincoln and Raina?"

"We're getting them together…somehow…eventually," Daisy replied. "What _are_ you doing?"

"Skye – I mean Daisy. I had a busy last 48 hours. I am tired. I am going to lie down and think about how to bring Lincoln and Raina together, somehow, eventually, on my back. If you have a different idea of how to do it, let's hear it now," Grant said simply, even as he remained lying prone. "Well?"

"You are still a jackass sometimes," Daisy muttered, as she disrobed as well, mostly from the bottom, (but Grant did not really care about such details right now). "Still, you're my jackass, and I do love you-"

"Love you too-"

There was a pause. "Did we just admit that we love each other?" Daisy muttered, with her pants and underwear still around her ankles.

"Yes," Grant nodded, with his own strange look on his face. "Want to go out and celebrate it in some restaurant instead?"

Daisy looked at Grant's member, still erect and hard. "No," she said firmly. "Well, yes. Later. Maybe we can have Raina and Lincoln go in our stead as well?"

"Sounds like a plan," Daisy said brightly, as she pushed Grant back onto his back and lowered herself on top of him, so that she was hit in just the right spot. "Let's execute it – later."

Moreover, this was what they did.

 _TBC_


	22. Chapter 22

**Because Raina (part 22)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains OCs._

 _Note: this chapter contains spoilers for the recent revelations in MCU._

And so it happened, that in all the excitement, Daisy (or Skye) and Grant found themselves down in Florida, on a fairly routine and low-key mission.

"…I'm quite certain that Coulson has sent us because we made him angry," Daisy said brightly. "This is ridiculous – he and the Mrs. are just as loud in their own way, and-"

"…and which is why it was very wise and mature of you _not_ to point this out," Grant said wryly. "Oh sure, it has cost you a lot in the inside, I'm sure, but you still proved to be the bigger person in the end."

Daisy gave Grant a look. The man returned with an innocent one of his own. "Well, fine," she said grouchily. "Maybe. Still… I do not know. I expected something different from the sunshine state. Have _you_ ever been to the sunshine state?"

"Daisy," Grant said patiently. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s HQ – the one with the vault D and everything – _is_ in the sunshine state, aka here. How'd you live in a van for months and remained so geographically blind?!"

"It's a gift," Daisy spoke with a certain nonchalance. "Have I ever told you how I was able to confuse _Texas_ and _Kansas_ without any deliberate intent before you had picked me up from my van due to the entire mess with Mike?"

"How _is_ Mike, BTW?" Grant asked calmly.

"Much better, now that he had made his peace with the rest of us," Daisy replied. "Are you hearing a sheep, as I do?"

"Yes," Grant nodded, "I do. Want to check it out?"

"Well, this _is_ part of the mission – our mission," Daisy nodded. "Let's go."

So, off they went.

/ / /

"You know, I cannot help but feel that this is something of a date," Lincoln muttered to Raina, half-sheepishly and half-uncomfortably as the two of them went through the rocky and steep streets of the Quebec City, watching the pigeons fly hither and yon through the skies above them. "I don't – I don't object, it's just that I don't like subtlety."

"You don't like S.H.I.E.L.D. either," Raina muttered back.

"'Like' isn't the word here," Lincoln shook his head. "It was never my first choice, or even the last. I was happy with what I had before – and then Mack and Daisy had let Lash, or whatever he is called, to me, and things went even worse."

"You're _so_ a Hufflepuff," Raina said with a small, brief smile, which vanished almost immediately, however. Lincoln, as always, found them – her smiles – to be very nice, but Raina was not finished. "People assume that you are easy-going and unassuming – and maybe you _are_ , but only to a point. Once your mind is made-up, you won't budge, no matter what the cost is, will you?"

"No," Lincoln shook his head. "I'm not. Are you breaking with me?"

"No," it was Raina's turn to shake her head. "I'm not. Are we a couple? I know that I am not Daisy Johnson-"

"It wasn't about Daisy, not truly," Lincoln shook his head. "For a while I thought that she might be the last piece, the missing key – well, something along these lines – to Li Shi, to what I had lost, what the others had lost." He paused. "And then you people took me to Australia, and it was much more like Li Shi than anything that I had, or could've had, or have in S.H.I.E.L.D." He paused. "No, not true. There is _you_. _You're_ in S.H.I.E.L.D., aren't you?"

Raina went brown. Well, brown-er, since she was wearing the mask – no need to attract unnecessary attention on this mission: Canada might have been more tolerant of the InHumans than the U.S. was, but Raina was one of the more extreme cases, so she (or everyone else) didn't want to call attention to herself all the same. Hence, the nanomask, borrowed from Ms. Palamas, especially since the older woman did not have any particular uses for the mask, considering her now advanced pregnancy.

"…Yes, I am," she scraped her shoe over the paved street of QC. "I guess I am – no, I certainly am. My honorary big brother is there, so's Ms. Palamas – they are my family, so I am not abandoning them. I tried to look out only for myself during my stay at Cal, and it did not work; it really took me down a wrong path. I am trying now something different, and so far, it is better than what I had before: being a part of something bigger is better than being alone-"

Lincoln thought this over. "Maybe," he said, drawing on his own experiences, "perhaps. But still, self-sufficiency shouldn't be dismissed either-"

"No," Raina agreed, admitted. "But-"

"Excuse me," a new, uninvited speaker, well, spoke. "But can I cut in, or are you two lovebirds still busy?"

There was a pause, and Lincoln and Raina turned around and faced the man who spoke. "Great, just what we needed on this pleasant day," Raina spoke, sourly. "The Klan."

"The what?" Lincoln was honestly confused, though not about the day – the weather _was_ pleasant, after all – not too hot, not too cloudy, not too windy: just right.

"The Klan. The KKK," Raina explained, still unhappy. "Apparently, someone has modernized it – as you can see for yourself…"

"No, we're not that!" the other man snapped: apparently, this was an issue that appeared often in his life, especially lately. "We're the Watchdogs! Seriously, why does everyone think that we are racist? We accept people of _all_ races to fight the alien menace!"

"Right," Lincoln spoke in a slow voice, since he, (as well as Raina), was a part of the 'alien menace' in question. "Of course. Well, good luck with that, and we're off – Raina here wants me to meet her aunt and the rest of her family-"

"Aw, come on!" the Watchdog member exclaimed. "Give us a chance to pitch our sales – maybe our ranks are a place to you?"

"I'm sorry, but I have a different idea," Raina smiled back, in a noticeably unfriendly way as she half-turned around. "Rashida! Auntie! Nice to see you here, at last!"

"Raina!" the taller, younger, slimmer woman of the two reached out and the two cousins hugged, kissing the air around their faces with biting smiles, the look on their faces equally hostile. Otherwise…there were some differences, the most noticeable one was the matter of color – Raina indeed was more brown than her family was – her aunt, her cousin Rashida, and… few other people, mostly male in gender, who looked more in place in Harlem than in Quebec City, and who were also hanging around, albeit happy to let Raina's cousin and auntie take the lead. "How are you doing, you-"

"Just fine, cousin, just fine!" Raina replied with equally fake perkiness. "What's _your_ name?" she asked the Watchdog in question.

"Willie-" the other man understood as well as Lincoln did that they had stumbled into female trouble here and were stuck, at least for the time being. "Ma'am-"

"Willie here is young, smart, bored, and is looking for a woman to cheer himself up," Raina continued smoothly. "And I see that you're up to the task already."

Rashida brayed some sort of a laughing sound and showed Raina one long thin finger. Raina grinned back – it was a show of teeth, pure and simple, and-

"What is going on here?" the rest of the Watchdogs had joined Willie, seeing that their public representative of the hour had apparently gotten himself into a mess.

"Well, Suharto," Willie began in an uncertain tone of voice, when the other man – the leader of the Watchdogs' group, it seemed – saw Raina's auntie and his own face became distorted in anger.

"You!" both of them cried at the same time and started to argue about, about…some sort of a contradictory bargain, last weekend, in Vancouver, British Columbia? Lincoln was not very adroit in Canadian geography, but even he knew that British Columbia was Canada's West Coast, and right now, they were nowhere near it, but quite definitely in the Canadian East.

Not that it mattered either to Raina's auntie or to the Watchdogs' leader, (who, let's be honest, looked as if he was from Jamaica or Puerto Rico himself, as oppose to Willie, for example, who was more Italian in appearance), as the pair began and continued to argue in ever louder voice. Seeing this, the rest of their people (except for Lincoln and Raina, who had backed away from the conflict instead), gathered around them, and – it remained unknown who threw the first punch, but thrown it got.

And then – the street erupted in violence.

/ / /

"So, let me get this straight," Daisy spoke to their opponent slash anything else, looking not too impressed despite his admittedly formidable appearance. "After all the trouble that you've caused us, you just went out here and hid?"

"Yes," the man who was once Scorch and at another time – Lash, said placidly over his meal of lamb. "Why not? Got plenty of money and everything – now I need to figure out what to do with it and so forth."

"And the InHumans? The other InHumans, whom you have killed?" Daisy could not keep disgust out of her voice: to think that Malick, (Gideon, not Stephanie), had used Lash as a hammer, (rather than a lash), to drive InHumans into the ATCU and Hydra was disgusting – at least to her. With Grant, it was trickier to tell, but from what Daisy could tell of him, he was not particularly impressed with the other man too.

"What about them?" Lash shrugged. "Does it matter? Do I matter to you? Does it matter to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Yes, and it matters to you too, otherwise you wouldn't be here, hiding among the alligators, the crocodiles and the snakes," Grant spoke wryly, but his eyebrows were suggesting at his own anger. "Lash, or whatever your name? You're not even a mercenary, you're not even as good as Crossbones was, God rest his soul."

"Rumlow is dead?" Daisy blinked: she had never met the man in question, (and from the stories of the senior, more experienced, agents, it was a _very_ good thing), but all the same, he had supposedly survived when S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen under Fury and all.

"Word on the street was that he is," Grant frowned in thought. "And no, we were not Hydra friends or anything like this either. That said, this, he, was still better than Lash here, you know? Lash is a hammer, period; he has no ideas, no nothing. Rumlow, at least, had ideas – mostly about hurting people, but still. Lash does not. Not even that."

"Oh really?" Lash snapped. "That's it; I had enough of you two. Let's see if I can't hurt you two without any imagination, yeah?" He pushed his meal aside, and went forth to do just that.

…Only to have Daisy shrug out of her bindings, (Grant was just behind her) and blast him in the face…no, not with her powers, not directly – rather, she blasted at the silty soil of the Everglades: the resulting wave of dirt knocked Lash off his feet completely, while burying him, also entirely, with the same mud and dirt too.

Grant was next: he didn't do subtle very often with his flames, but he had a better mastery of his skill than Daisy did, (slightly), so he was able to dry out Lash's muddy cocoon, immobilizing him…long enough for Daisy throw the appropriate disk, for the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s retrieval unit to come down, and, well, retrieve Lash now that he had been captured.

"That wasn't so hard," Daisy told Grant, brightly.

It was then that two more people emerged from the Everglades. "The Hell?" Grant said eloquently. "Rumlow, we were just talking about you – you couldn't have enough decency to die _or_ to be just a zombie? Moreover, Daisy, the woman is agent 13 – the last I heard, she was working with the Avengers, _not_ Hydra. The fuck?"

"Nice to see you too," the masked (and damaged, physically so) man, Rumlow, grunted, even as his partner kept her gun trained on Grant. Judging by Grant's expression, things could explode – and quickly.

"Okay," Daisy decided that it was up to her. "Let's not fight. Agent 13, if this is who you are-"

"I am," the other woman's eyes flashed.

"-do you want to go to S.H.I.E.L.D. or what?"

"Yes," the other woman nodded. "We do. There was a base in this state-"

"-it is still here-"

"-yes, but it has been largely abandoned, used mostly as a storage depot," agent 13 nodded, neither fully agreeing nor denying the statement. "We _could_ use it, of course, but this way – if you took us along – is better-"

"Okay," Daisy listened to their vibrations. "Agent 13? You and your companion are afraid of – something or someone. This isn't because you're planning to assassinate S.H.I.E.L.D. director or carry out something along those lines?"

"No!" the other woman sounded insulted and miserable, upset and pissed off. "I don't know who you are-"

"Agent Daisy Johnson," Daisy said helpfully.

The other woman gave her a look, and things could have gone downhill immediately, if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s retrieval unit had not returned at that moment…

/

Director Coulson had…not a bad day, but it had deteriorated, at least some, since the morning, and not just because it became hotter in the afternoon, as the time went on, but because Raina and Lincoln returned from their mission with mixed results, or rather – unexpected ones, and not in a good way.

"What's the matter, director?" Andrew, seeing that the other man was not in good spirits, was polite, (relatively so), for a change. "Your gut is telling you something?"

"Yes," Coulson nodded. "Something has changed in the world."

"You mean, besides the obvious?"

"Yes. Things were going uphill for us lately. Hydra seems to have died at last, now that Malick is no more. The InHumans' situation has also appeared to become stable, more or less-"

"And your dream, of some sort of a secret warriors' team?"

Coulson gave Andrew a look. "As you know, we already have it – Joey, and Rodriguez, and a few others, including Marion – to a point, of course, since she isn't an InHuman or someone like that-"

"Acknowledged," Andrew gave in to Coulson's look.

"And yes, while it would've been nice to have the InHumans, and the other gifted, to follow our lead, right now I am content with them not making trouble, not after Lash and what else have you," he exhaled. "We were lucky with Gideon Malick, to a point, but beyond that? There is AIM, planning to take over what ground Hydra had lost. There is this 'Ms. Ambroise' entity, who I know not what is. There are the Avengers, and the Accords, and the Sokovians, making their own plans, and God knows what else. I admit it. Yet, S.H.I.E.L.D. remains largely untouched, and even as we are leaving the shadows – in Australia, in the rest of U.K. dominions, even in the U.S., maybe – I cannot help but feel that this good fortune will turn on our heads and bite us in the ass-"

"Should I call upon Rosalind-"

"Andrew, no. There is a time for family and a time for work, and right now, I need to be the director," Coulson shot a look through a window in his office. It had drapes now. They were manly, but still drapes. Rosalind helped to pick them for his office.

"It's the weather, Andrew."

"Say what now?"

"The wind has died, the air is hot and humid, this a perfect climate for a thunderstorm to break forth. Yet it does not. Instead, it just keeps on building up and up, until finally, it breaks all the same, as it did about a week ago, when we actually had hail. _Hail_ , Andrew! In the end of spring! And, Andrew, I know that I am rumbling, but you know what? There is method in my madness – or perhaps, a metaphor."

"D.C.!" Daisy, followed by Grant, walked into the director's office. "We got Lash, all right. The tips paid off."

"Good," Coulson turned away from the window. "But, what went wrong?" It was asked as a question, but meant as a statement.

Grant and Daisy exchanged a look. "Sir, we would rather have you see them for yourselves," Grant confessed, when it became obvious that Daisy would not. "Please?"

Therefore, off Coulson went.

/

…He, (and Andrew, and the others), saw agent Sharon Carter first: the woman, having cleaned-up on the quinjet's restroom, (at least to a point), was busy having an animated discussion with agent Kara Palamas (-Hunter?) as the later sat and breastfed her and Hunter's new daughter. "Kara!" Daisy exclaimed, despite her intentions. "She looks like you and Suzy! What is her name?"

"Cassidy," Kara smiled at the other (other?) agent in appreciation. "She takes more after me than Suzy does, but-"

The baby turned towards them and made a sound, surprisingly loud for such a small baby.

"She likes you," Suzy Therese said to Daisy and Grant in an important-sounding voice, as her new sister returned to her previous business of suckling. "Uncle Grant, when you will marry your lady? I hear that mom and auntie Raina think that you two are ready-"

"Young man," Grant spoke, twitching, as the others were still stunned into silence, to Curtis. "Why don't you take my niece and take her to your brother? She should tell him all about her new sister, or else she'll burst, and we don't want that."

"I don't know," Curtis was twitching himself. "What if she decides that they make a nice couple as we do? I mean yeah, we do, but it would be nice to have some sort of a choice-"

"Why don't we chaperone?" the FitzSimmons said quickly. "I'm sure that the Mrs. won't mind-"

"Okay, but keep your comm.-links on – you may need…no, you should hear this," Daisy spoke seriously. "Jemma, I mean it."

The FitzSimmons exchanged looks and left – alongside Suzy and Curtis.

"..I cannot believe it," Sharon broke the silence first. "You having children!" she pointed to Kara. "And you!" she pointed to Coulson.

"You two know each other?" Coulson blinked.

"Well, yes," Sharon admitted. "Agent 13," she pointed to herself, "agent 33," she pointed to Kara, "agent 19," she pointed to Bobbi, who had just appeared on the scene herself, alongside Mack, and was not particularly pleased on seeing 'agent 13' once more.

"Sharon," she said with a van smile. "What's up?"

"You don't want to know," Sharon replied with an equally humorless smile. "Basically, Rumlow has survived, and for a while had captured me. He attempted to brainwash me, I played along for a while, and together we had a tour of the amazing world of Hydra, behind the scenes." She paused and gave Coulson a look. "BTW, I am very impressed of how you've been handling the Hydra issue-"

"Yes, well, let's be fair – it isn't the final solution," Coulson exhaled: his feeling of foreboding only grew stronger. "It only works if people are willing – and yes, people _are_ willing to leave Hydra behind, since Hydra's leadership tends to sell them out – to AIM, or to other organizations for whatever advantage this'll bring them-"

"-and then there are people like Rumlow, who just like to hurt people," Sharon finished in complete understanding. "I mean, have you seen some of the Hydra 'agents' and their 'leaders'? Honestly, you can get some thugs and the right sort of stencil, and tada! Instant Hydra cell!"

"So, why did Rumlow decide to come with you, then?" Daisy asked, sceptically. Her sense of foreboding was not as strong as Coulson's, let alone Raina's powers, but even she could sense that something bad was coming, and coming fast.

"Because if Rogers' is Hydra, then I won't be!" the latter snapped, his ogre-like figure successfully handcuffed and restrained, (at least to a point).

There was a pause as everyone stared at him _and_ Sharon.

"The fuck?" Fitz's voice came over the comm.-link, as he and Simmons had followed Daisy's suggestion and kept them online. "He's the bloody captain America! He _cannot_ be Hydra!"

"Of course he cannot be, but Hydra is a sneaky, in a parasitic sort of way," Kara pointed out. "I mean, Garrett had conditioned Grant like some bloody dog, Whitehall had used the Faustus method to rip out my personality by the roots, and the British crowd tend to use the neural clamps and similar biotechnology…though this is more of AIM's thing than Hydra's. But, you know, a choice between rotten apples?"

"Well, yes, but, you know? It's captain America!" Sharon said miserably. "He's the Man!"

"I know," Curtis' mournful voice came over the comm.-link. "Daddy's got the biggest crush on him."

"…Curtis?" Coulson's reply was very careful and controlled. "You know that the person I've got the biggest crush upon is your mother?"

"Yes, dear," Rosalind's voice came over the comm.-link now. "But let's be honest – if you'd suggested a threesome with captain Rogers, I wouldn't have been too upset either."

"Roz," Coulson had a coughing fit, "Thanks for being here for me. I really appreciate it. What?" he switched towards Sharon.

"Just…strange, seeing you as a family man," the woman admitted. "S.H.I.E.L.D. was never big on families, especially official ones, you know?"

"Yes," Coulson nodded sagely, "and one of these days I will talk to Fury and or Maria about this. I disagree with them now on this point; I disagree with them on many things. However, as for you-" he gave Rumlow a look.

The man looked back, defiant, but in a sullen, defeated way. "Carter," the director exhaled. "I don't really have time for this. Can you keep him under control and give him direction, motivation, whatever it is that he lacks in his soul?"

"You mean, basic human…well, humanity?" agent 13 said crossly. "Yeah. He is like a golem, you know? Not so much evil, as inhuman." She looked askance at Grant. "How'd you manage to beat your conditioning, BTW?"

"I had to work with people on the Bus and stay sane – this was the start. Then there was the fact that I _do not_ like hurting people. I kill them, but I did it cleanly, and I got tired of this even before the Bus. And then, during Puerto Rico, I ran into Kara, saw what Hydra did to people for real, and decided that fuck it – whatever I will become, it will not be Hydra. The rest is history."

"Makes sense," Rumlow grunted, and then stopped as Grant gave him a very hostile look.

"D.C.," Daisy said quickly, "what _are_ your plans?"

"Now that we know that things _are_ taking turns for the worse?" Coulson said brightly. "Sharon? I think that you should go to Paris. Agent Romanoff, Natasha, is in one of our safehouses down there already."

"Really?" Sharon frowned, thinking about this. "Why?"

"Hiding from Stark, Rogers, the rest of the world," Coulson replied. "I think that she won't be against keeping an eye on Rumlow, while you begin to deal with ARC-7, and maybe the British government, and the French, in regards to project Pegasus – remember, from 2004 and the like?"

"You mean it has worked?" Sharon stared.

"Apparently it had, according to Natasha," Coulson nodded, "and she, I would say, knows more than I do at this moment. What we do know, is that the British Prime Minister, de Veux, is also a leader of AIM, who has brokered a deal with North Korea a while back, which is bad, and that the Russians are also actively involved, and were involved from the start, and this is not a good thing either. Your job is not to interfere, but to collect information and to see where it is all going, while Natasha will keep Rumlow under control. Do you agree?"

"Yes sir!" Sharon replied, looking happy (more so than Rumlow, for the obvious reasons).

And Coulson returned the smile, (though it was strained slightly). The weather was still hot, though the sun has finally gone down, and it was a spring evening, with bird song and everything, but now that the director knew that things would, or could be, taking a turn for the worse in the future once more, he felt lighter than he had in the last few weeks.

 _TBC_


	23. Chapter 23

**Because Raina (part 23)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains some characters from other fandoms._

Once upon a time, when Melinda was currently looking over Coulson's paperwork, (as Coulson opted to fly over, alongside Daisy and the others, to Cal Zabo's current place of residence for a check-up – some things were making him uneasy in regards to their former opponent), the door opened and in came Sif of the Asgardians, looking shifty (especially for her).

"If anyone knocks on the front door, can your people answer them and say that I am not here?" Sif asked May, not really paying attention to her surroundings, as she hid beneath the sofa that was there (aside at a wall, just in case), and not very successfully, especially from the back. "Please?"

"Okay, I think that a more hands-on approach is required," May blinked, as she got onto her own two feet and went to see just who _was_ at the front door. As she did do this, however, she also called Andrew, who was in the base on this particular day, and asked him to keep Sif company – just in case. As she did, however, she could not help but wonder, if she was not making a mistake for some reason.

/ / /

…As Coulson, (alongside Daisy, and some other agents), made his way to Cal's front door, he still wondered if they were just chasing after some sort of a red herring. Yes, some data regarding Zabo's consumption of energy (not literal – just electricity, and hydro, and the like) was off, and his new girlfriend (slash friend with benefits?) looked somewhat suspicious, but this did not mean anything by itself. S.H.I.E.L.D. _had_ made errors in the past, and it was better to err on the side of caution, but still.

Daisy rang on the bell, her body language suggesting determination more than anything else.

"Yes?" Cal's girlfriend (slash friend with benefits?) opened the door. "Who is it – fuck?"

There was a pause, (the woman did sound familiar, though Coulson couldn't get a good look of her face), and then Daisy pushed the other woman back inside and followed herself, her body language now even worse.

"This is going to be bad," Coulson muttered. He knew that he was right, now, he just did not know why. This made him feel even worse.

/ / /

Melinda blinked.

Loki blinked.

Melinda blinked.

Loki blinked.

Melinda blinked.

Loki blinked.

"Your children are adorable!" Sif spoke through the building's comm.-link (the one that connected to the outside, that is). "It's been a while since I've seen any – human or Asgardian, or otherwise. What are their names?"

"The boy is Aaron – Joshua," Melinda spoke back through the comm.-link. "He's Coulson's. The girl is Cassidy. She is Kara and Lance's – you have not really met either of them. FitzSimmons?"

"Sif is with us! Again!" the scientists' spoke in unison. "This is very exciting!"

"…You two were having sex, weren't you?" Melinda asked, crossly.

"Yes! But! Until recently, Andrew was the one looking after the children, while we were trying to do some science!" the FitzSimmons did not back down. Well, not really. They _were_ at fault here, sort of, and Melinda May was still Melinda May, even if she was a different person – somewhat – these days too. Still, she was not likely to go after the scientists, and the scientists in question _did_ grow some backbone, although they did not use it too much with May, because they wanted to keep it.

"Fair enough," Melinda decided that she could be magnanimous in this situation, though she did not really relax her stance either, as she turned back to Loki. "Now what?"

"You're asking me?" Loki was caught genuinely flat-footed here. "Thor is the one who has it easy with women. If you got any half-Asgardian children here, on Earth, they aren't mine."

"No, because you were too busy acting like an asshole and tried to take over it," Melinda said sourly – and perhaps something even more, for Loki backpedalled and put some distance between the two of them now: just in case he needed to use his magic or something else.

"Oh, come on! I – I was manipulated! By Thanos! He's the Mad Titan, you know, and you don't fool around with him," he yelled back, not sounding very happy about this new development.

"We've heard about him some time ago," Melinda drummed her fingers on the building's wall – it helped her think. "Is he crazy or just insanely angry?"

"Yes!" Loki replied brightly. "He is. He, um, tricked me into invading Earth in regards to the Tesseract? You, um, don't have it around anymore, do you?"

"I believe you," Melinda nodded, thoughtful. "Like some people, you are probably more cunning than clever and can be manipulated yourself, even as you manipulated others. In addition, no, we do not have it anymore. We never really had it, actually – the Avengers did, and now there are Sokovian Accords, and registration, and the Avengers have fallen apart, and there are rumors of captain Rogers being Hydra and other nonsense. We don't really work with 0-8-4s at the moment either – not when we've got gifted people on our side, especially the InHumans."

"Say who, now?" Loki asked, all pretense gone in an instant. "Do elaborate."

And Melinda did.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

Daisy just stood there, her body a silent conflict of irritation, anger, misery, but mostly anger. Yes, her training had given her a greater – far greater – control of her powers and emotions, but right now, well…

"You!" she told Cal. "And you!" she told his female companion.

"I know, Daisy," the latter replied: now that she was not just restored – _again_ – but also rejuvenated, the similarities between Jiaying and her daughter were even more there. "None of this was supposed to happen, you know? We were supposed to rule this planet, not-"

"No, this isn't about this. Yes, I understand – when we finally came together, you cared more about your dream than of anything else-"

"My dear, this was no dream. We – our ancestors – were a part of the Ming, the Song, the Tang dynasties of China. Blood of empires _is_ in our veins, we were _born_ to rule."

"So why did you marry Cal, then?" Daisy gave her a look. "Or is he also a part of this?"

"I loved him. Still do," Jiaying admitted, reluctantly, but she did not lie either. "But this isn't about _him_ – it's about _you_. Our bloodline passed from mother to daughter for centuries and generations…and I'm thinking that you're about one month pregnant, already, yes?"

Daisy nodded, not too happy that her biological mother had figured it out. "Yes, that is correct. Fury got Grant and me and the others to deal with a Nautilus club facility, and in the aftermath, I guess, we just weren't careful enough-"

"It happens," Jiaying nodded, sounding quite motherly despite her youthful appearance. "However," the next words spoil the effect, "you must remember your lineage, and you mustn't-"

"Jiaying? No," Daisy shook her head. "You know something? I'm not angry with you, aside from your latest trickery upon me and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., I understand, sort of, where you're coming from with this dream of yours, but it isn't _my_ dream, and it never was."

"Perhaps," Jiaying replied, coloring visibly, "but you must understand that _I_ was one of the youngest in _my_ family, and a large family, Daisy, isn't as fun as you think that it may be. True, you look – and act – more like _my_ mother than I ever did, but-"

" _Your_ mother?" Daisy frowned. "She isn't still around, is she?"

"Of course I am," the entity, who had introduced itself to _some_ of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents as 'Ms. Ambroise' back in London, walked into the room, chewing on some sort of a croissant sandwich. "Cal, love how you've cooked the meat – you're one of the better cooks since the times of Abraham. Daisy? Please do not put too much stock in your mother's words. She is a good person, just…too imaginative sometimes, for better or for worse. You're your own person, not just my granddaughter, you know?"

"The dynasties?" Daisy stared.

"Done mostly by my loins," 'Ms. Ambroise' patted the body part in question. "Your mother was one of my youngest children and the most human, and you're more human yet. This is good, for that is your destiny-"

"Good."

Ms. Ambroise smiled. It was not a bad smile, but also a smile that was not used often or fully human for that matter.

"Agreed," she told Daisy, and Daisy did catch a glimpse of family resemblance between herself and 'Ms. Ambroise'. "Your mother has inherited all too many wrong things from her father and me. You did not. And yes, I **am** talking about Cal, who is something else all too often in his own right. I wish you good luck in the future as well as to your S.H.I.E.L.D. family." She made some sort of a strange gesture.

There was a moment of confusion in the suburban house.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"So, you got the InHumans working for you?" Loki muttered thoughtfully, once Melinda, (and the FitzSimmons, and the others), finished telling the story to him and Sif. "Interesting. You do not have a problem with it-"

"I do. The way I treated Skye, or Daisy, initially after Puerto Rico," Jemma replied immediately. "I will need a long time to make it up to her, you know? She – and the others like her – may be different, but not _that_ different." She paused and added, in a less energetic tone. "'Course, director Coulson's approach to the entire Secret Warriors project _and_ the mess with the Iliad didn't make things any easier, either. But still." She shook her head and gave Loki a look. "What do you want, anyways?"

"To see if you can, and will, join my anti-Thanos effort?" Loki said innocently. "What? Can't I do a redemption here?"

"You can," Melinda agreed placidly, "and we have no problems with that. It is just that, you know, you may not be the one in charge of everything-"

"I have no problems with that, I planned to put it all on Thor-"

"You know that this isn't what we meant," Melinda gave Loki her Cavalry-like look.

"He does," Sif, surprisingly, decided to change the dynamics of this conversation. "He has changed, you know? It's just…he is still Loki…"

"Acknowledged," Melinda shifted her gaze to the Asgardian that they knew better. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"That's a harder question to answer," Sif admitted, "but he kind of grows on you, you know?"

"Yes, I suspect something like this – I have experienced something like this, and no, Andrew, I'm not talking about you," Melinda admitted. "Anyhow-"

It was then that Coulson's group returned, and even the less experienced members of Melinda's group could see that something was off. "Phil," Melinda spoke softly. "How were things are your end?"

"We suspect that the entity known to us as 'Ms. Ambroise' might've messed with our memories and/or perception of reality, however slightly," Coulson admitted. "Also, Cal _has_ resurrected Jiaying – again…"

It was then that he and Loki noticed each other, and recognized each other (at last), and stared at each other.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" they spoke at once, pulling an essential FitzSimmons.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"As you can see," Sin, the daughter of Red Skull, (perhaps self-proclaimed, but neither Sharon nor Natasha cared about this at the moment), gloated, "the captain has been safely brainwashed and conditioned all along. Unlike the shoddy work that the Leviathan had done with the Winter Soldier, Hydra's version has worked with the captain even before he became the captain and after he was frozen for decades. Go Hydra!"

Even as she was saying her villainous monologue, captain America was channelling his inner Lady Gaga, which was just wrong.

"Grumpy Cat, Grumpy Cat, can't beat me – I'm Grumpy Cat!" he sang with a disturbed look on his face. "Come on Grumpy, let's go clumpy! Can't beat me! I'm Grumpy Cat!"

Sin leaned back to emit a truly evil laugh…and the andrewsarchus, that Grant, and Kara, and the rest of their team had sent the Avengers, and which had stayed with Natasha during this entire mess grabbed her with its jaws and sent her flying into a wall. Sin hit the wall in question with a crunching sound and did not get back up once she fell.

Meanwhile, the Hulk, using the fact that everyone else was distracted by Sin's sudden defeat, landed right next to Cap and hit him with the giant alligator that he'd been swinging around all this time (even though they were in France where giant alligators weren't really supposed to be a thing, but Sin managed to acquire one for her now-defeated forces all the same). Even Captain America could not handle it without being knocked down and out, (and honestly, he was not at his best lately), and so down he went.

"Got you," Rumlow said brightly, (though with a different brightness than he trademark one), and promptly secured him, even as the Hulk held the hurt symbol of the U.S. democracy down. "Carter."

"Rumlow," the former (well, no, not so former) agent 13 nodded back to the former leader of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team (of the old S.H.I.E.L.D.). "I guess you made your choice?"

"Zip it," the big man gave her a look that honestly was not very friendly or anything else positive, really. "I'm – I'm still me. Rogers still is not. And this," he jabbed at the fallen Avenger, (who was busy muttering "Come on Lumpy let's go Grumpy" in a sleepy tone of voice), "isn't right. Too highbrow for me or something. Let's get him to Wakanda so that he can keep company to his Winter Soldier buddy, yeah?"

Carter gave Rumlow a look. Rumlow looked back. Natasha opened her mouth to say something.

"Hi!" the Hulk said shyly. "The Hulk missed you? The Hulk is sorry?"

"And is Banner sorry too?" Natasha instantly switched tracks, because – priorities.

"Yes, he is," the Hulk admitted. "Heard you have a new friend? Jerry?"

"Yes," Natasha nodded and pointed at the andrewsarchus. "You've met her already."

The Hulk blinked and sat down (onto the giant alligator), genuinely thoughtful. "But that's a girl. Jerry is a man's name, no?"

"…" Natasha thought that never in her spy history did she expect to explain names to the Hulk. "It's tricky, yeah. Want to come with us to Wakanda while I try to explain it to you and all?"

The Hulk thought about it. "Hulk liked India," he finally made a decision. "Wakanda sounds like India. Hulk will come." He paused and looked at Natasha in a Banner-like manner. "Hulk's sorry for leaving?"

"We will need to work on your verbal skills," Natasha looked back in a very feminine matter (in a good way, especially for her). "We will also need to work on our social skills, and 'we' I really do mean 'us'."

The Hulk beamed.

/ / /

 _Some time later…_

"You know, time is a funny thing," Coulson told Rosalind, as the two were watching the sunset and the evening take over the sky. It was partially cloudy, somewhat windy (and quite cool for the beginning of summer), but you could still see far ahead in the distance, down to the lights and fires of Miami in the distance. The birds were singing their evening song, no mosquitoes or other vermin were out to bite people, Curtis was back with his friends on the island, (at least for the moment), Aaron was asleep, (he did like his naps), and Marion was busy with her own affairs (whatever they were). "I honestly thought that our trip to Zabo's will take more time than it had. I guess that I got so used to missions going south in a big way that when a mission slash confrontation didn't…I'm surprised."

"Are we talking about Zabo or Loki?" Rosalind asked archly. "I cannot believe it! More genuine aliens and I've missed them!"

"Well, technically, Daisy and the rest of the InHumans are aliens…sort of," Coulson pointed out carefully. Rosalind shook her head.

"No, I'm talking about aliens from a legal point of view, not a biological one-"

"Okay, then can we just enjoy the evening without political commentary?" Coulson said firmly.

"Actually, it's already night," Rosalind replied. "See, the sky is all black and clear now? And _that_ is either an UFO or the Miami airport is open for night-time business still."

"No, it's not an UFO," Phil pinched his nose. "Contrary to what most of the governments of our planet believe, Earth isn't really a hub of extra-terrestrial activity…hopefully…" He looked to the sky. "You know, the times before the alien invasion of NYC? I miss them. It was simpler back then. More peaceful."

"Audrey?" Rosalind said quietly.

"She's gone, our relationship is gone, and though it turned out for the best, my _old_ relationship with Fury is also gone," Coulson promptly told her. "Rogers, and Romanoff, and Wilson, were correct for taking the old S.H.I.E.L.D. down – not because of Hydra, but because of what it would've become of its own free will." He grimaced. "Kara Palamas is correct, more correct than she realized when she had her closure with Bobbi, that the old S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't all that different from Hydra – it's like find 10 differences between two rotting apples or something."

"Phil? It is earlier than the usual, but maybe it is time for us to go? To bed?" Rosalind said gently: Phil did not get loud when he was upset (or angry), but he did get intense.

"Maybe you're right – it's been this sort of a day when nothing goes as expected, so we should sleep on it and tomorrow might be different; well, it will be different, but hopefully – in a good way-"

Their comm.-link quietly came to life. "Excuse me," Marion's own voice was also quiet, "but there's a Clint Barton wanting to see Phil Coulson? Are you that Coulson?"

"…Yes, I am," Coulson said, not exactly happily. "Apparently, if he's that Clint slash Hawkeye. Tell him that we will meet him in the cafeteria downstairs-"

It was then that Aaron woke up and demanded some attention from his parents at last in a happy tone of voice (at the moment).

"What is agent Barton's historical value?" Rosalind muttered as she took Aaron with them to the elevator. "Because otherwise? We can just feed him to the alligators instead."

Coulson remembered the giant that has become something of a local mascot in Palmetto and kept quiet. Otherwise, he would have given into the temptation and agreed with her.

/ / /

However, when Phil and his family finally got into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cafeteria, Barton has clearly calmed down, some. The bear-dog, who is also present, (as is Marion, for example), probably helped with that.

"Please tell me that that isn't an agent on a bad day," Clint told Coulson, pointing at the bear-dog, (though not at Marion, hurray for small mercies), before seeing the rest of the man's family in question. "Oh Lord, I've messed up, didn't I? Sorry ma'am, please do not tell about this to Laura. She will kill me. Phil? Congratulations on wife and child."

"Children," Coulson corrected, with some gentleness. "Marion over there is our oldest. Clint, not that we're happy to see you-"

"But you aren't," Clint spoke, sounding more upset than angry now. "I had to learn from Nat, and Bruce, and Carter that you're alive, and been alive all this time. Phil, why didn't you tell us from the start?"

"I have no idea!" Coulson said cheerfully as they sat down. "I just, we just, we were all in a very bad place, and we made a lot of mistakes back then, including me. We only began to fix things for real fairly recently, after the Iliad almost went down, for example."

"I heard about it, from Evelyn," Clint looks uncomfortable for some reason. "Nat says that you made your peace with the InHumans, though?"

"It's hard to say," Coulson grew genuinely thoughtful at the question, "if 'peace' is the right word to use. We never really went to war with _all_ of the InHumans – it is just that, yes, I tried to make peace with the InHumans of Li Shi, and it backfired, for a number of reasons, including the fact that they were InHumans and we were S.H.I.E.L.D. Now things have changed, not precisely, how I pictured them to change, but they still did."

"I'll say," Clint gives a pointed look at Coulson's youngest. "When was the wedding, anyhow?"

"We didn't have one," Rosalind flushed. "We got the dates wrong. We will probably have one in the future, though."

"Ah," Clint nodded knowingly. "I hear you."

"And we can hear you," Kara commented, as she walked to her station (it was her time to do the night shift for this week), her own Cassidy in a baby career. "Words have failed me, BTW."

"How many children are here?" Clint blinked.

"There's Aaron and Cassidy," Coulson nods thoughtfully, "Daisy is about a month pregnant, Melinda is three or four months pregnant, and I honestly don't know about any of the others."

"Me and Raina got engaged yesterday," Lincoln commented as he walked over to his own night station. "Is that a muffin?"

"My muffin," Rosalind gave Lincoln a look. "Unless you're talking about Barton over here-"

"No, and is this really Barton? I thought that he was with Romanoff-"

"No, I'm not," Clint said flatly. "I'm my own man, thank you very much." He dies down just as quickly. "Of course," he turns back to Coulson, "I'm also your friend – or so I thought."

"You want back?" Phil muttered faintly.

"I don't know what I want," Clint confessed. "I don't want to be out in the cold, though. Me and Laura – I love her and the children, but I am not ready to completely retire, though. When Cap called me regarding Wanda and all – I came back. It probably was a fairly dumb idea, and not just because I have ended up in Ross's underwater prison for a while, but I did not care. Still do not. What I care about-"

"You want back in," Coulson repeats his question, this time as a statement.

"I don't want to be left out in the cold," Clint repeats his own statement. "The end. Everything else… I do not know. Nat is not the same, not since the fight in the airport. Bruce and I were not very close from the start. Cap and Sam – I think Steve is thinking of passing the mask and the shield to Wilson. Stark is actually better friends with Nat than with me. The rest – we don't have the history, and the Black Panther is the Black Panther." He looked away and got onto his feet. "Phil, sorry about coming here at such a time, all but looking for a fight. Call me some time, later."

"It is later, already. Clint, we have the place and everything," Coulson firmly told the younger man, when the door opened, and in came Melinda's parents – and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s official-unofficial mascot.

And also – a basket, a large basket, of dinosaur hatchlings.

"Phil!" Melinda's father said cheerfully. "Where can we get more of those frogs? The youngsters just love them!"

"Phil?" Clint turned around with a blank face. "This offer of bed and optional breakfast? I will take it. I am clearly not sane enough, and sleep deprived just enough, to go into the night, gently or otherwise. I think that they are related to agent May, correct?"

"Yes!" Melinda's mother said brightly. "We are!"

A nightjar flew outside the building, emitting its cries. Immediately, the dinosaur babies perked up and began to chirp their own cries, demanding more frogs or something.

"Fury never had to deal with anything like _this_ ," Coulson muttered to no one in particular and immediately contacted Lincoln in regards to dino food.

 _TBC_


	24. Chapter 24

**Because Raina (part 24)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter contains characters from the Avengers™._

The land was seemingly empty, uninhabited, lifeless. Well, no, not really – more like devoid of sentient life, human or otherwise. The fruit trees, the exquisite gardens that Daisy remembered from the past have grown feral; the flowers now grew everywhere, and caterpillars of various moths and butterflies grew fat feeding on them, while various birds grew fat from _them_ instead. (Some other animals were probably feeding on the birds, but neither Daisy nor her companions came across them – yet.)

Regardless, this abandoned landscape was very different from what Daisy had remembered, and not in a good way – as she told Lincoln.

"You're telling me," the electrically empowered InHuman replied in a matching tone of voice. "I've been here longer than you had been; I believe that I even recognize some of those trees – the cypresses, the firs, the persimmons – and the birds. I remember the gardens – they were something of a source of pride to those InHumans who would stay here on a more permanent basis than I did – they were neat, organized, beautiful. And now? They are more like some crazy-ass forest, which is a different thing altogether." He looked askance. "No one asked Jiaying to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. fully back then, I myself have begun trusting S.H.I.E.L.D. fairly recently, but there _is_ a difference between mistrust and going all Jonestown on the world, you know? Maybe – maybe things would have been different." He paused and looked askance at Raina. "Not necessarily _better_ , of course – just different."

"Right," Grant replied wryly, before Raina could. "What about this critter? Is it old or new?"

There was a pause as everyone looked at…what was essentially a ferret, just the size of an American badger (or maybe bigger), walking around, doing its business, which consisted primarily of digging for earthworms, insects and frogs, as well as anything else that it would come across.

"I've seen bigger animals in my past," Grant continued as everyone tried _not_ to make any sudden movements, "more dangerous ones too – probably. However, well, it _is_ a ferret. Regular-sized ferrets can be nasty enough, and this? Daisy, can't you vibrate it away or something?"

"Yes, yes I can," Daisy agreed, "but I'm not sure that I wouldn't hurt it."

There was a pause. "So, what? We'll be wintering on this spot?" Fitz, (who, alongside Simmons, was representing the ordinary-human-faction of S.H.I.E.L.D.), asked in a less than enthusiastic tone. "Of all the times when we _didn't_ take the bear-dog – or bum the Avengers' version whatever andrewsarchus-"

"Avengers version whatever?" Daisy blinked.

"Yes, Avengers version whatever," Fitz agreed. "I'm sorry, but lately they have lost some of their glamour. Also, there are logs."

"Fitz?"

"What? I said 'there are' logs, not 'they are' logs. People, learn your English!"

"No, I meant where do you see logs?" Daisy expanded her question.

"Oh. That makes sense. Over there," Fitz pointed to his left, where was a log pile – an old one: clearly, it had not been used as a source of firewood for a while. A wagtail or a similar bird was walking upon it, ignoring the ferret-badger…that had noticed it, and was eyeing it, clearly thinking of going at it.

There was some new noise among the trees. The bird took to the air; the ferret-badger whirled and scurried into trees. A person – winged – emerged from behind the logs. "Hey," she said in a pointedly neutral voice as she gave Lincoln a glare. "Campbell. Who are your friends?"

"Hey, Ildo," Lincoln replied, not sounding particularly happy himself. "I see that you're still around. Is it too late to exchange you back with the ferret-badger critter?"

/ / /

"So," Laura Barton looked at Kara and Bobbi. "You're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"

"Yes," the two women replied, almost in unison, as they looked at the wife of Clint Barton was professionally blank faces.

"And those are your children?"

"Yes. The girls are Kara's; Mason is mine – and Mack's," Bobbi nodded. "What about _your_ children?"

"They are fine," Laura replied, saw the wary _and_ confused expressions on the faces of Kara and Bobbi and went for damage control. "This was a joke. Sorry? What _has_ Clint been telling about me?"

"Nothing!" Kara was the one who replied this time. "Until the last few days he had been with captain America and Falcon and the others – busy in Wakanda, with the other Avengers, not with us. It went both ways – we do not think that he knew about Coulson rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. all this time-"

"Why?"

"I don't know," Kara shrugged. "After the initial fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. I was out of the loop for a long time myself. Bobbi?"

"I worked with Gonzales rather than the director, so no too," Bobbi replied. "Want us to show you around?"

"I suppose that I do," Laura agreed as she gave the other two women a thoughtful glance. "You know, you two make a good team. You must be good friends with each other, too."

Kara and Bobbi exchanged looks of their own, and they were distinctly uncomfortable.

/ / /

The place was primeval. It was overgrown with sycamores, flowering bushes, redwood, magnolias, pomegranates, had some palm trees, also – the ever present cypresses.

The winged woman – Ildo - was one of the InHumans present; and there were more of them, though most of them now were more like Raina, rather than like Lincoln or Daisy (or Grant) – overt rather than covert.

Speaking of Lincoln – the man was not too happy upon seeing the old faces from his old life…and then Raina took his hand and he relaxed, at least some.

"So," Daisy muttered, realizing that the 'welcoming committee' was noticeably unwelcoming… well, uninviting, if you wanted _not_ to get punny. "Ildo, right? Are you the last of Li Shi?"

"Yes," Ildo nodded, neutrally. "We are. What do you want?"

"Since you people are still here – to restart Li Shi. It was a mid-point house for InHumans under Jiaying's reign, and we would like it to become once more. Are you interested?"

"With you in charge?" Ildo asked sceptically. "As your mother was before?"

"No," Daisy shook firmly. "For better or for worse, my loyalty is to S.H.I.E.L.D., not to the other InHumans, even you and the rest of Li Shi. It will not work. Who is in charge of your people here now, anyhow?"

"No one in particular," Ildo rubs her foot against the ground. "We have heard how you – and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., I suppose – have been dealing with the other InHumans, like Jerome and the like. We," she looked away, looking like Lincoln on a certain level, "well…"

"You didn't want a mass slaughter, right?" Daisy decided to call the other woman out. "The InHumans don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. – they don't trust outsiders, period – but they don't try to take over Earth either. Not as a race, anyhow."

"No," Ildo drooped. "Not I, not B," she pointed to an ent-like InHuman, "not Ty," she pointed to another InHuman…who was currently in discussion with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own werewolf agent, (cough). "Oh. You've got a lycanthrope of your own?"

"Yes," Daisy looked askance. "It is a problem?"

"As a rule they tend to shy away from InHumans-" Ildo froze and cocked her ear. "Do you hear this?"

"Something is coming," Raina twitched as her own trance came and went. "Someone. The earth is groaning, the forests are shaking, the skies are twitching-"

"Yeah," Ildo said in a voice that was somehow both tiny and bitter. "Azlazivon. Princess, help us out and we will follow you. Abandon us – and we're finished-"

"Who, or what, are you talking about?" Daisy asked – and it was then that the dragon had landed.

/ / /

"So," Bobbi asked Kara, as Coulson had taken over Laura Barton for them and the two female agents were enjoying some sort of a drink in the cafeteria. (Coulson and Rosalind had made some sort of a deal with the local bakery and several grocery stores in the neighbourhood, so right both she and Kara were enjoying fresh bagels on top of everything else). "You want to talk about it?"

"No," Kara replied curtly, and then asked a question of her own: "Do _you_ want to be friends? Because I don't think that we can."

"Neither do I," Bobbi confessed, then looked away, guiltily. "I mean-"

"No," Kara shook her head. "Barbara? Just do not. You are loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. – fine. Victoria Hand, aka your S.O. and the _original_ hell-beast had messed you up – fine. You tried to bury me alive in Hydra – this is not fine, not on a personal level, but we are not dragging this out again."

"Why not? You and Ward-" Bobbi paused, trying to get a better grip on where she wanted to go. The other woman did not rush her. "I mean-"

"No, I know what you mean," Kara exhaled. "But the truth is that Grant and I were never friends – we became family, and that what you were to me, Barbara – family. I once thought that we would be a couple – just as the FitzSimmons were – and I was wrong. That is done now. Can we move on?"

"We have," Bobbi agreed, "but, Kara, you're more correct than you think. We _are_ family, you and I, and I, for one, have no idea what to do about it."

"…Neither am I," Kara admitted after a pause.

The two women finished their meal in silence.

/ / /

The dragon was huge. He had three heads as well as a twitching, tentacle-like tail. Flickers of flame came out of his mouth, and overall, he looked like a dragon – very dangerous and undoubtedly deadly. He could not be real – but he was.

"So, do you work for Hydra, Leviathan, AIM – what?" Daisy asked the first thing that came into her head. "Or are you an InHuman, your own master, just as those winged bull-like InHumans that we've met on our earlier mission?"

"Ah yes, I've heard about Arshak and his people," the dragon agreed, easily. "That was a mess. S.H.I.E.L.D. is always quick to clean this sort of thing up, isn't it?"

"Let me guess – you're working for the Nautilus club instead, or maybe a member of it, or something like this," Daisy muttered despondedly.

"I am my own person," the dragon replied – apparently, the mention of the Nautilus club had struck a nerve in him. "Now, are we going to fight?"

"You tell me," Daisy did not back down now. "You're an InHuman, correct? Most InHumans do not really like to fight, powers or no powers. Those that do are often in Hydra, or AIM, or somewhere similar to begin with. And I'm warning you-"

The dragon exhaled fire. Daisy brought forth her own vibrations to block the flames. "I'm like a Jedi," she told the dragon, giving him her best glare. "I can rearrange the multiverse with my mind, or something."

The dragon did not appear to be too impressed, as for several moments he used his auxiliary heads to attack with more flames from left and right, while his middle head kept the pressure (and the flames) up. Daisy quickly began to parry and to dodge, utilizing her own vibrations to block and deflect flames, before realizing that this tactic was not the best in a forest complete not just with trees, but also dry, old logs and who knows what else. So, instead, she used the powers to collect the flames – more or less – and then to slam them back into the dragon – once, twice, thrice and beyond. It was not very efficient – more like wielding an oversized baseball bat without any finesse – but after Daisy scored a direct hit on one of his heads, the dragon apparently changed his mind and flew away.

"Well, this was unexpected-" Daisy began, when the dragon returned, dive-bombing from the sky and exhaling more flames. Only this time he had missed and hit Grant instead.

Grant wasn't like Daisy, he didn't have vibrations to block the flames; instead, the dragon's flames act like some sort of a power boost, causing him to grow larger, and acquire the appearance of a more humanoid version of Tolkien's balrogs, complete with flames of his own. The dragon is still bigger than any of them are, but once Grant gets a grip on him, it clearly is not the advantage that the dragon once thought that it was.

"Hellfire," Raina muttered from behind Daisy. "Hudima the Kinslayer. My big brother."

"Then who am I?" Lincoln muttered crossly, his own hands awash with lightning. "Hm?"

"Aksha of the Second Breath. My significant other," Raina kissed him on the cheek. It was a chaste kiss, but Lincoln still looked as if he got a boner from this. "Daisy?"

"Right," Daisy began to suspect that Raina's trance-induced mutterings were not about the dragon, as physically impressive that he was. "Now. Az, or whatever your name is? You have just annoyed the father of my child. S.H.I.E.L.D. does not _do_ the InHuman power struggles, but we do understand them all the same. Do you want us to finish it?"

"No," the dragon has clearly lost the interest to fight, but then again, Grant's InHuman shape is very intimidating, even more so than Lash's had been.

"Okay," Daisy exhaled. "Now," she turned back to Ildo and her people. "Can we please re-start this whole situation. Just who is this dragon man would be a good starting point."

"I could ask you the same question," Ildo replied, but her heart was not in it.

"His name is Grant and he's a Skrull throwback, technically speaking," Lincoln piped up. "So am I, so are you-"

"I know," Ildo looked askance at Daisy instead. "So how exactly do you want those negotiations to go?"

Daisy told her.

/ / /

"And after this, after the entire mess with yet another InHuman who took the concept of InHumanity too far," Daisy finished telling Stephanie and the others the rest of the story of the negotiations, "we made the deal. The end."

"It's a bit shorter at the end," Stephanie commented mildly, as she did some calculations of her own on a tablet.

"Yes, well, you know how it is. It's bigger on the inside," Daisy replied, slightly annoyed.

"Okay," Stephanie did not rise to the bait, but just passed the tablet over to Daisy. "Does this sort of a financial plan work for them?"

"Hm." Not just Daisy, but also Melinda and Andrew looked over the plan. "It seems solid. Moreover, the vault of Li Shi is still secure. They agreed to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s presence – Hydra is in Japan, AIM in North Korea, something – probably Leviathan – in Russia, they can use someone to big brother them once in a while at least. Plus, well, the creature comforts – they matter a lot, too, even in China."

Silence fell.

"You know, I wouldn't believe this, but it sounded like a typical day at the agency," Andrew mused thoughtfully.

"You're upset that you've missed out on it?" Daisy suggested with a certain nonchalance. "Well, maybe you can come and see Li Shi for yourself, and I mean it in regards to Melinda too, BTW."

"I know," Melinda smiled a small smile.

"I am not sure that your parents should come," Daisy said, turning serious. "After all-"

"Absolutely not," Melinda said firmly. "I love them, but I could spend some time away from them. What do you think, Andrew? Do you want to come with us?"

"…" Andrew thought this over. "No offense, but I assumed that this _wasn't_ a done deal, not yet? Us having a family outing in China or just abroad?"

"It is now," Melinda spoke with a particular kind of warmth. "Well?"

"…We need more men in this family," Andrew responded with a particular brightness of his own. "Not that my father-in-law is insufficient, but still. Stephanie, you have a boyfriend in mind?"

"Aha-ha-ha-ha," the latter 'deflected' the question. "Just how _big_ is the initial venture going to be, now? Who's coming, aside from the immediate family and the FitzSimmons?"

Daisy, for one, exchanged a look with Melinda. "Yeah, about that," she told Stephanie…

/ / /

"Is it just me or today has been kind of busy for air traffic, even by S.H.I.E.L.D. standards?" Rosalind asked Coulson. "Even more so than it had been yesterday. What gives, or is it classified?"

"No, more like the latest twist in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s changing project – a mid-point house," Coulson replied to his wife (civil law, but still). "It had been going around for a while, even before ATCU had begun; S.H.I.E.L.D. had experimented with them, but mostly left them to the U.S. marshals and the like. Li Shi was something else, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with it, for the obvious reasons, but I must confess that Daisy had liked this idea, so did I and Melinda – at least to a point. In particular, we initiated the Secret Warriors' well, initiative – only it did not go as planned, especially by us. The InHumans…well, we did not know much about the InHumans as we initially assumed – right now, they are mostly civilians, and they are not particularly interested in working with S.H.I.E.L.D., as agents or otherwise, not as much as we expected them to, especially the 'old-school' ones. And then there was Hydra."

"Yes?" Rosalind pushed forwards.

"People have been jumping this ship by then-"

"Yes, but couldn't this mean that they would be jumping back on, once the situation changes? Has changed?" Rosalind pressed on.

"They did, just – different people," Coulson grimaced. "It's a circulation of mercenaries in nature – or something," he grimaced. "Of course, if Sharon, and Natasha, and the other Avengers are telling us the truth, Hydra is slowing down – at last. AIM, of course, is just picking up, and there is the entire issue of the Secret Empire, whatever it is, lurking somewhere in the murk."

"And you're content with this?" Rosalind raised an eyebrow.

"Wrong word. However-" Coulson shook his head. "Fury was the one who was content with his lot of light, if anyone was. Hill…I do not know, she has not really talked to me lately, but by 'content', I mean 'complacent'. Yes, there were, or are, some sticky moments with the battle of New York, but since I died there – sort of – I am not really the best person to discuss it-"

"You've did what there?" Rosalind spoke quietly, and Coulson felt like facepalming himself.

"Nothing!" he said quickly, "nothing at all! Talk to Fury, if you want…and if he is not an alien. A proper alien, not an InHuman, that is!"

"Say what now?" Rosalind blinked, distracted (for the moment). Coulson, who _really_ did not want to discuss the battle of NYC with her right now, pressed on.

"The InHumans – the InHumans that live in China, Italy, elsewhere – they consider themselves to be natives, citizens, inhabitants of Earth – earthlings, technically, not aliens from Jupiter or wherever else, unlike Thor or Sif, for example, who do not. The question is if Fury is an alien, and if he is, is he an alien-alien or not?"

"…You know, few months ago, even a year ago, this sort of conversation would've been crazy to me," Rosalind said thoughtfully. "That said, about a year ago I had no family, just a job that I wasn't that good at, I had an estranged daughter that I wasn't in a very good relationship with, and I had no sons, period. Now things have changed – for the better, so I am not going to stir the pot too much. But – what did happen to you in NYC?"

"Roz," Phil tried to deflect the question.

"Phil." Rosalind's gaze implied that it would not work this time. "Please?"

Coulson sat down, indicated that Rosalind should sit down too, and began to tell her the story of his past encounters with Loki and co.

/ / /

"Is it just me, or are you really enthused at this project slash op?" Daisy asked Grant, even as Lincoln and Raina took Melinda and co. on the impromptu tour. "Planning on staying here?" she asked as joke, but it did not come across as too funny.

"No," Grant shook his head, "but I think that I like being in charge – I mean I have sort of figured out back with Lincoln, Raina, Kara, and the others, but now I have confirmed this."

"And?"

"And I also think that I like having you to keep me in check," Grant confessed, quietly. "I don't know how the relationship of Lincoln and Raina works but the two of us? We are something else. I kind of have a feeling that one of us just _has_ to be on top, and I think that it would be rather you, than me."

Daisy grew thoughtful. "I honestly _don't_ want to be on top _all_ the time," she finally confessed. "Maybe we can have a more equal relationship?"

"I would like that," Grant smiled back – surprisingly shyly for him. "Now what? And by 'now', I mean 'right now'. What is going on?"

"Melinda got Andrew out of the office, especially since Stephanie is here. And the FitzSimmons. And Lincoln and Raina."

"You're having a family outing-?"

" _We're_ having a family outing – _you're_ part of our family, Grant," Daisy said quietly.

Grant turned red and looked as if he would bolt and hide somewhere now… so Daisy reached out and grabbed him by an arm, just in case.

"So, now what?" Grant repeated his question. "And by 'now' I mean what happens now? This is not exactly a zoo, or a circus, or anything like this. This is, well, it is something of a mid-point house – for InHumans, for former Hydra agents, et cetera. An InHuman settlement – albeit a more heterogeneous one than the one in Italy, for example – isn't exactly a best place for a tour."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Daisy muttered, crossly: apparently, Grant was not in a mood for a romantic walk. He pointed in one direction – and Daisy suddenly wasn't in a quite the right mood for a romantic walk either, as she saw a young woman (about her age) of a clearly Asiatic descent – possibly a Tatar or an Uighur – but certainly good-looking especially in an exotic sort of way.

"I know Andrew," Grant muttered to his partner, "but does Melinda really want this sort of thing, just because?"

"Probably not, but she's better than this," Daisy said firmly, and Grant…did not press the point, but rather took Daisy for a walk, towards a nearby lake. Sadly, but not surprisingly, there weren't any waterfowl, but a couple of foxes – ordinary foxes, not transformed by Jiaying's abandoned and/or discarded experiments, were currently saking their thirst there, and they didn't seem to be too bothered by the presence of humans.

"I see that you _do_ understand the concept of romance," Daisy muttered as she rubbed her cheek against Grant's shoulder, (given their respective heights, it was not too surprising).

"I do," Grant muttered, uncomfortably. "I just, I don't know-"

"Fiittzz!.."

"…I'm going to kill them for ruining the mood," Grant picked one of his ears as he looked around – apparently, Jemma could be particularly shrill and her sounds carried for quite a distance. "Or maybe just paralyze for a week and drive them around in a stroller, complete with a pacifiers and adult diapers."

"…You have some seriously disturbing ideas," Daisy twitched. "The FitzSimmons will kill you as soon as their paralysis wears off."

"Speaking of ideas," Grant got down onto one knee and pulled out two rings. "Do you want to get engaged and married?"

"I like this idea a lot more," Daisy said brightly, as she accepted the ring. "Technically, after the incident that had involved Fitz, Simmons, and the elephant, for example, we already were a couple, but-"

"But what?" asked Jemma, as she and Leo finally appeared on the scene.

"Guys," Daisy said, sounding slightly cross herself. "We and Grant just got engaged for real. You two have really ruined the mood – cannot you be quiet."

"I'm sorry," Jemma had the good manners to blush. "It's just that, when Leo hits the right spot in my-"

"TMI," Daisy said firmly, seeing how Leo turned red-hot from this epiphany. "Want to go and check on Andrew, Melinda and others?"

"Yes, please!" Leo said quickly, and the four of them went to do just that.

 _TBC_


	25. Chapter 25

**Because Raina (part 25)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: this chapter is crossover with GoG, because it so needs to happen._

 _Note 2: this chapter contains spoilers for an upcoming film._

 _Note 3: this chapter contains OCs._

And so it came to pass that (some of) the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. found themselves in the Canadian High Park (Toronto, Ontario), because one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s (less important) safe houses was located close to it, and even agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. need some time off to themselves.

"So, who wants to go with me and check out the impromptu petting zoo?" Leo Fitz told brightly, (looking primarily at Jemma Simmons…for the obvious reasons).

"Fitz, it's not a petting zoo!" Daisy rolled her eyes. "All of the animals are in their enclosures and cannot be petted. Well…okay, they can be, if you climb into their enclosures…but I'm fairly sure that you shouldn't – even if you are agents and all, this _isn't_ the sort of publicity that DC wants from us-"

"Are you coming?" Jemma nodded thoughtfully, as she eyed the other female agent.

"No," Daisy said brightly, as she sat down – heavily, due to her now-advanced pregnancy – onto a nearby bench, holding onto Grant. "We'll stay here and enjoy the fountains."

"Don't they make you want to pee instead?" Leo asked, skeptically.

"…" Jemma took one good look at Daisy's face and promptly dragged Fitz downwards, down the stairs, before the InHuman agent just shoved him down, with her vibrations.

"… this was embarrassing," Grant commented, as he sat down next to Daisy, observing the FitzSimmons disappear onto a lower level of the High Park with an almost InHuman speed. " _Do_ you need to pee, though?"

"No," Daisy said brightly. "Our lovechild isn't pressing down onto my bladder with all of his, or hers, weight."

"You're wearing some sort of an adult diaper, aren't you?" Grant said wryly. "Joey has hinted at this to me…"

"Maybe," Daisy gave Grant a look. "You know, you should be disturbed-"

"I am, especially in private. In public, not so much. Not with the director, and the Mrs., and Stephanie, and the others, hanging not so far away from us, in the Grenadier. Nice place, BTW – very deceptively comfy, like the rest of the park."

"You don't like it?" Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Jemma thinks that it is very British – wild-looking and all."

"The British style is to imitate the 'pristine wild nature' as much as possible," Grant rolled his eyes, "hence the lake in the park, the maple leaf mosaic – hello, Canada! – and the trees. This particular part – with the fountains – is French instead: the French were very big on this sort of elegance, until the Revolution at least."

"And you know this because?"

"I like Canadian parks," Grant said with a slight smile. "Just not customized ones, in a British _or_ French style. With you around, I don't care about park styles, period."

"Nice catch," Daisy prodded Grant's chin with one of her fingers. "Also, there is some sort of cloaked airship above us, and I'm not sure that it is of Earth."

"Ah! Hi there!" another couple walked over to Grant and Daisy, "I'm Peter! Quill! And-"

"I heard this name!" Daisy blinked. "Are you here looking for Jemma specifically or for the rest of us in particular?"

"You're friends with _Jemma_?" the woman raised an eyebrow. "Are you Melinda May or Daisy?"

"Daisy; this is Grant Ward-"

"Last time we heard, he was supposed to be kind of evil?" the woman did not put down her eyebrow.

"He got better," Daisy shrugged. "Leo and Jemma are down there, checking out the animals. You can go and talk to them instead if you like-"

There was a pause as Peter and his date exchanged looks. "What kind of animals?" Peter asked, carefully.

Daisy and Grant exchanged looks of their own. "What are we missing?" Grant asked.

/ / /

Leo and Jemma were observing the caribou in their enclosure, especially the large, dark chocolate-brown stag with impressive antlers. (The rest of the deer in the enclosure had smaller antlers and lighter fur, BTW.)

"You know, between the screaming peacocks, and the smelly bison, this really is like a real zoo," Leo commented to Jemma as the two of them just had a time off – even geniuses cannot think about genius-level ideas all the times. Sometimes even they just want to sit back on a bench and enjoy the view.

"I am Groot!"

…But it does not mean that their wish will come true, however.

"Jemma," Leo asked skeptically, as he observed an apparent refugee from Middle-Earth and a racoon wearing pants (among other articles of clothing). "Do you know those people?"

"Yes," Jemma replied in a (slightly) more cheerful voice. "This is Groot, and that's Rocket. I have been telling you about them in the past, remember? Rocket is the racoon-"

"Yes, I am," Rocket looked somewhat uncomfortable, "Jemma, hi. It has been a while since your boyfriend here has rescued you, supposedly-"

A completely ordinary, Earth-born racoon climbed out of a garbage bin while looking completely pristine, from the black and white mask down to the striped tail. It (racoon genders are not very different from each other, especially on Earth) looked around, saw Rocket, and decisively scurried over to say hi and to see if Rocket was free this evening (for it was evening right then on Earth).

"Let me guess – you'll be dumping Jemma now, if you haven't a while ago," Leo said sourly, without moving to help: S.H.I.E.L.D. labs had had racoons in the past, and Leo knew that the animals could be actually very badass, especially if you were fighting them barehanded. "Jemma had told me about you and your friend-"

"I am Groot!" the other alien said brightly as the two racoons tried to work their issues; Rocket, in particular, was muttering about his mother under his breath.

"Yes you are!" Jemma nodded sagely. "Who's Lylla and what's she got to do with this?"

"I am Groot!"

"Oh, she is an otter!"

"A local otter or one from the Old World?" Leo could not help but to ask.

"I am not sure," Jemma sounded genuinely thoughtful. "Rocket, is Lylla from here?"

The other racoon chittered something. Rocket twitched. "Okay, now I know that my mother just couldn't be behind this, because we've never really met, but I still feel that she is behind this, somehow, and she doesn't approve of my ways and of Lylla-"

"Been there, done that with Jemma," Leo spoke in a sympathetic tone of voice. "At least you didn't have a Kree Monolith ruining your life, did you?"

"No, no Monoliths," Rocket agreed, "but plenty of Kree otherwise. They're dicks."

"I am Groot!"

"Oh look, here comes Drax," Rocket said without any sympathy or regret in his voice. "In disguise, but he still got someone with him, I see."

"…And now I can see why you're acting so strange," Stephanie nodded sagely, as she hanged onto Drax, just because. "Jemma, Leo, are your friends real or just cosplayers?"

"I am Groot!"

"Why can't you be both?" Jemma drummed her fingers on the bench. "Groot, do you even _know_ what a cosplayer _is_?"

"I am Groot!"

"Yes, I can explain – _we_ can explain," Jemma nodded, after Leo jabbed her in the side. "Now – oh, hey Peter! Gamora! What _are_ you people doing down here, BTW? Also? Apparently the other racoon with Groot _isn't_ Lylla – she's an otter."

"Hey, Jemma," Gamora nodded to the smaller woman. "We must admit – your friends down here _are_ like how you have described them-"

"Okay, and you're riding Quill piggyback because-?"

"He offered nicely," Gamora shrugged, as she indicated upwards, where Grant was carrying Daisy down, (for expediency's sake, no doubt).

"I am Groot!"

It was then that a small black-and-white woodpecker of some kind flew onto Groot in question and began to probe him for insects and their larvae.

"You know," Drax said simply, "we _are_ having an off day, aren't we?"

/ / /

"Okay, this was new and exciting, even by our standards," Daisy commented to Grant a while later, once Jemma's reunion with her non-S.H.I.E.L.D. (but also non-civilian) friends finally ended. "Especially once Rocket had almost released the emus – WTF with that?"

"This place is _not_ a real zoo," Grant shrugged, "there are no predators, for one thing. It is designed to be as safe as possible, even though they have several bison there, for example. If bison feel threatened, they charge, and no barrier will hold them. Pound for pound, they are much more formidable than any cattle are, domestic _or_ feral. In addition, all of those geese, and ducks, and turkeys? I think that the zoo staff was almost aiming towards a petting zoo for a while and then they tried to backpedal, and now they got poultry among them that they do not know how to handle, however. The _wild_ chipmunks were cute, though."

"…I was talking about Rocket himself, instead," Daisy blinked.

"…He's a racoon who wears pants and is actually trying to be loyal to his Lylla, whoever she is. He is just strange, period. Racoons are not really big on loyalty, at least not on this planet. Still, if he wants to make it work…good luck to him, especially from Leo."

"Fiiittzz!"

"…for the obvious reasons."

"Yes," Daisy nodded to herself. "Jemma should just expect to wake up pregnant herself one of those days…the Asgardians have been busy those last few weeks, hah?"

"Yes," Grant nodded curtly, his own mood now souring some. "I don't know much of this Thanos person, but if everyone is getting scared of him, then he _must_ be scary."

"Well, maybe it's all relative? Apparently, Jemma's guardian friends had once thought Kismet to be this big scary deal, and they still defeated her. Come to think of it, Captain America being dominated by Hydra was a big deal – and it still got resolved. Who is to say that the problem with Thanos won't get resolved-"

"Of course it will be," Grant shrugged, "the trick is to ensure that we're the ones getting the resolution as opposed to him. Closure and all that, you know?"

"You're still big on this closure thing, aren't you?" Daisy muttered wryly.

"And you're still big – just big-"

Daisy opened her mouth to say something scathing, when she twitched. "Grant?" she said carefully. "This was _more_ than just another kick. Can you get Kara and _maybe_ Simmons if Jemma still isn't too busy-"

"Fiiittzz!"

"Let's go get Kara first. Period."

/ / /

"…Lincoln? What's going on in your mind?" Raina asked with a certain nonchalance that, however, did not fool the other InHuman (the one in question).

"I don't miss Li Shi," he admitted quietly. "At least not as much as I even do miss Australia."

"…"

"Yes, I know," Lincoln shook his head. "We can go back either there or to Li Shi, I know. It's just that Li Shi _has_ become a better place with Jiaying gone, and I still don't want to go there – not anymore."

Raina nodded. Lately, their lives seemed to be alternating between shorter, more intense periods of activity, and the longer periods of inaction, especially since they stopped working for the Australian government and returned (sort of) back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Fair enough, and-

"How _did_ you get involved with Grant and S.H.I.E.L.D. and the others, anyhow?" Lincoln asked idly, as he eyed Raina thoughtfully.

"Meh, the old fashioned way, with the emphasis on the 'old S.H.I.E.L.D.'," Raina shrugged, "though it probably didn't hurt that my grandmother used to be a fairly important person back when she was alive." She looked away, clearly investing time into a trip down the memory lane. "In her own right, that is. Anyhow, I did not have very clear idea of where to go and what to do once I graduated from high school, for example, so when I came across an ad of the old department, I decided to apply to the Academy – and it worked. I do not know why they accepted me, and I am not going to probe – nothing good will emerge from this – but I was accepted. And-"

"And?"

"And S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposedly designated by agent Peggy Carter and her like-minded cohorts to be a place for lost people, the oddballs, where they would be accepted and be given purpose," Raina nodded. "It sounds like a noble goal; it really does, only in my case? I guess I was not ready to accept some foreign purpose, so as I was getting closer and closer to graduation and acceptance as a new agent, I realized that I had no idea of why I was really here and did I want to be associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. for the rest of my life?"

Lincoln gave Raina a very thoughtful look.

"No, it was different from your case," Raina said firmly. "If you're an agent, then you're an agent, or at least an asset, as Grant's and…Kara's case has showed. You accepted the oath, took the metaphorical shilling, the end. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be keeping eyes on you for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not – or unless you join Hydra, AIM, or some similar organization, which is like S.H.I.E.L.D., only eviller. However, if you are still a cadet, it is somewhat different – you can drop out of the Academy and leave, and this will be the largely the end of that. You tried your best, you could not make it, so sorry, good luck, S.H.I.E.L.D. wishes you well. It was called, unofficially, the 3.63 percent, and everyone, including Hill and Fury, accepted it. Only, in my case, it was rather unexpected, 'cause I was one of the best students in the Academy, before the FitzSimmons, so agents Weaver and Roland sent one of the agents to try and bring me back into the fold. By fate's grin, it just happened to be Anne Weaver's good friend John Garrett and his protégé, Grant. By then, I was working alongside Cal – I tried hustling on the streets before, but after the Academy it just wasn't the same – and honestly? Even Garrett was a better mentor _and_ man than Cal. So when John and Grant came across, I was ready for new pastures again…only because it were Garrett and Grant, I didn't go back to S.H.I.E.L.D., but rather to CyberTek and Hydra, and then…well, you know the story from there on, right?"

"Yes," Lincoln nodded. "I-" Words failed him, because yes, while he was lost with Jiaying gone and the rest of Li Shi down for the count, he wasn't ready to embrace S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daisy just yet, this wasn't what he had wanted, and he didn't want to turn his life around – only he had to, when Daisy and Mack had let Lash to him and his last pieces of independent life had vanished. S.H.I.E.L.D. was not against underhanded or strongman tactics when it suited them, including Daisy…only not anymore. "Somehow, I think, we have changed it," he muttered to Raina, "S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, the Mrs. has helped somehow too."

"The director is the sort of a man who changes only when he wants to. The same goes for my big brother," Raina muttered back. "No wonder they were caught in a dominance fight. The elephant vs. the rhinoceros – who would win?"

"Hey! This is our place! Get lost!" a much bigger woman, complete with a Mohawk, sat down next to the two InHumans and glared at them. "Or else-"

"Hey, Cousin Tara," Raina gave her a look. "Cousin Rashida and auntie are worried about you, so they asked me if I could look you up? I did, so yeah?"

"Cousin Raina," 'Cousin Tara' muttered back, now downright unhappy. "Of all the people, it had to be _you_ , whom I actually stand-"

"Unfair – no one can stomach Cousin Rashida after all, now can they?"

"True," 'Cousin Tara' shot Lincoln a look – this time. "And this is-?"

"Lincoln. He is with me."

"We're getting married," Lincoln nodded.

"Why else do you think I agreed to talk to auntie and her daughter _voluntarily_?" Raina finished.

"You're getting married?" Tara blinked. "At last! Congratulations!" She gave Lincoln another look. "Though couldn't you pick someone better?"

"No," Raina said flatly and firmly. "No. Now, what about you?"

"I'm fine," Tara spoke with a dismissiveness that did not fool anyone. "Now, did you get the shovel speech?" she turned back to Lincoln.

"Go right ahead," he spoke resignedly.

"Good!" Tara reached out and grabbed him by the shirt. "Now-" she instinctively took a sniff and frowned even more. "What the Hell are you?"

"He's an InHuman, as am I," Raina spoke, grabbing yet her cousin in question by an arm, "and so are you, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about – you were the smart one in the family, maybe even the smartest one," Tara muttered, as she let Lincoln go and shifted, sprouting extra arms and a row of purple spikes across her back (vertically). "See?"

"You can shapeshift," Raina said flatly, as she removed the mask to reveal her own visage. "Seriously? You can shapeshift and you complain? I cannot shapeshift and you don't hear _me_ complain about  this," she shot Lincoln a look. "And the issue with meals is different – I still have my old lousy metabolism: almost everything goes right to my butt and thighs and I start looking like a Kardashian-West love child gone wrong."

"I didn't say anything," Lincoln said innocently, while eyeing one of Tara's companions thoughtfully. "We haven't met, have we?"

"No," the Black Widow (in a very convincing disguise) said flatly.

"Okay," Lincoln switched his attention back to the two cousins. "So, do we give your cousin the sales pitch or what, Raina?"

Tara gave him a very unfriendly look. Lincoln did not back down.

"Tara – no," Raina said simply. "I'm sorry if we hurt your feelings-"

"I'm sorry if I got onto your shtick-"

"How did you get onto it?"

"Axel got me some special pills to give me a buzz. Boy, did this did not go right! And now, well, here I am, and here you are, and what do you want to offer me?"

"A new beginning – of course you can keep your old one, since you seem to be handling it well enough," Raina shrugged. "Of course, for all that _we_ know, you might end up fighting one of the Avengers sooner or later, and-"

"Yes, I actually _don't_ want this happen on a regular basis," Tara confessed, looking at her cohorts, (cough). "But, yeah, what can _you_ offer, Raina? You do not tend to offer anything, and you do not like our auntie's approach to things as well. What has changed you?"

Raina pointed to Lincoln, who just gave Tara a look.

"Oh, come on – even _I_ can see that he is part of a package…" Tara face palmed, having become more human looking once more. "Can we forget that I said that?"

"Except that you're correct – sort of," Raina admitted. "We work for S.H.I.E.L.D. now. Do you want to do that too? Work for S.H.I.E.L.D., not full-time, but part-time? The pay is good, and it's not like you had thrown your lot with Hydra or Sons of Hector for real-"

"They're not the Sons of _Hector_ … never mind," Tara looked down, clearly in thought. "Okay, so what's the pay is like?"

Raina and Lincoln exchanged a look of their own, and continued their 'sales pitch'.

/ / /

"…This is so _not_ how I imagined that tonight will go as," Daisy muttered, as she looked at hers and Grant's newborn son. "I mean, unlike DC and the Mrs., the dates _aren't_ wrong, and yet he is perfect-"

"Of course he is!" Kara nodded simply. "Don't forget, however, both you and Grant are InHumans, rather than…ordinary humans? Cro-Magnons? Whatever. I and Raina had discussions about this, we, on occasion would even rope Lincoln into this – well, try to: it's amazing how fast a man could become manly if the topic turns to ladies' parts, cough…"

Daisy gave the older woman a look. "What? Don't give me that sort of a glare!" Kara protested, half-heartedly. "You had a typical, and a good one, InHuman pregnancy, I don't know what sort of powers your boy has inherited-"

The boy sneezed, releasing a tiny jet of smoke into the air from his nose.

"Takes after his father right now," Kara spoke without missing a beat. "Hm. In addition, Melinda is expecting twins, BTW. Things are getting more interesting in this place by the day."

"…Melinda is going to have twins? But she's so small…" Daisy blinked and thought over her choice of words. "You know what I mean?"

"Yes, but it is still fairly early in _her_ pregnancy, so she is already beginning to make plans, not unlike you and your diapers – you're ditching them, right? – including Andrew sleeping on a separate couch, _maybe_ , nearby," Kara shrugged. "Do you have the name for the boy?"

"Jonas Philip Johnson-Ward," Daisy shrugged, "and yes, DC is the original Philip. Speaking of him and his youngest, how is yours?"

"We're here," Lance answered instead, as he entered the medical office. "The little geniuses are asleep – they exhausted each other that much! Your boy looks almost as good as our girl does," he pointed to the (slightly) older baby in question; who was at looking at Jonas Philip was a very clear curiosity. Following some sort of an instinct, Grant brought their son over to Lance and Kara's youngest daughter, who reached out and touched the boy very briefly on the nose. The boy sneezed, (releasing another tiny plume of smoke) and giggled. The girl giggled back.

"You know, maybe she _won't_ marry Coulson's youngest," Hunter told Kara in a conversational tone of voice. "Not that I have anything against young Aaron, but still. Weren't you telling me that a girl needs to have choices?"

"Speaking of choices," Grant said quickly, "what about that Djeeta woman? Has she recovered?"

"Yes!" Kara said brightly, because Hunter's latest suggestion was _really_ out of the blue. "Well, no," she caught herself. "But she is getting better, and-"

Raina and Lincoln 'chose' this moment to make an appearance. "Well, my cousin is on board, however tentatively," Raina told Kara and others. "Is this my new niece or nephew?"

"You're in an intense mood," Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Another bad family reunion?"

"I love my mother's side of the family, really," Raina confessed wearily, as she kept on hanging onto Lincoln as if he was a life raft of some sort, "but I never wanted to fit in with them – I loved my grandma just too much to give _her_ legacy up. In addition, Rashida is an insane clotheshorse, and Tara and I like each other better at a distance, as examples. Now…" she looked down at Jonas Philip Johnson-Ward thoughtfully, "he takes after both of you, you know?" she shot Grant and Daisy a look.

"You know, I think that he does," Daisy admitted thoughtfully, as she took him from Grant. "You also know? I think I like the idea of being a mom more and more." She gave the others an askance look. "Plus, yes, no, that's it, really. Anyone else got anything else?"

"It's seven in the morning," Lincoln shrugged. "Whatever missions will come up today, maybe you should sit them out?"

It was then that the bear-dog trotted into the room, took several sniffs, and began to lick the babies. "Only us," Lance muttered quietly, clearly _not_ wanting to startle the big mammal into anything rash, for the obvious reasons. "Only S.H.I.E.L.D."

The babies giggled, and then yawned, and their mothers took them to bed. "Um," Lincoln looked at Lance, (since the Englishman was the closest to him, anyhow). "Where's the director. We still need to get debriefed, right?"

And Lance told him.

 _TBC_


	26. Chapter 26

**Because Raina (part 26/epilogue)**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

 _Note: if some of the characters behave OOC by Marvel standards…well, this is an AU. Live with it._

 _Note 2: this chapter is a crossover with GoG, because it so needs to happen, and the greater MCU too, I suppose._

The picnic was proceeding in a very lovely, detached and professional manner – as only agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could accomplish. There was drink…mostly beer, because S.H.I.E.L.D. usually drank beer, rather than wine, as far as alcohol went, as a rule. There was food, since this _was_ a barbeque. There was some music and dances, especially since there were children. There even was an elephant, since the FitzSimmons had rescue the animal from a Nautilus club's base a couple of months ago, and it had missed them, (even if it did enjoy hanging around S.H.I.E.L.D. children).

…For their own part the FitzSimmons were of mixed feelings towards this: yes, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they were supposed to be rescuing those in need, but somehow they did not expect one of their rescues to be an elephant, a properly grateful elephant, but an elephant all the same. The kids loved it, true, but this just made the FitzSimmons feel more tingly and uncomfortable in their own skins: yes, they wanted to have children, (well, they would rather get married first, but apparently in S.H.I.E.L.D. it often went the other way around), but they weren't certain that they would make it work as parents; plus-

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Leo muttered to Jemma, as the pair just kept an eye on children playing with the elephant, (although Deathlok was helping with this as well, BTW), "we _were_ going to get married in the first place, remember?"

"I know," Jemma muttered back, "and I like the idea of being a mother, but, yeah, I want you to be the one who is doing the proposing? Are you going to propose?"

"Of course I am," Leo shot back. "I just want it to be perfect-"

"I don't want it to be perfect, I just want _you_ -"

"You don't? You were the more perfectionist one among the two of us back in the Academy-"

"Yes, well, this was different," Jemma flushed. "We're different now from our cadet days, and not just because we're older-"

"Okay," Leo nodded sagely. "So Jemma, will you marry me?"

"Well, yes," Jemma blinked, "but maybe we should continue this in private?"

"Jemma, we're not going to make out in public-"

"Why not…" Jemma blinked and shook her head. "Never mind. Mike, what's up?"

"You two and your circus act," Deathlok commented nonchalantly. "Seriously, just what is going on with you two?"

"Nothing!" the FitzSimmons replied as one. "What is going on out there?" They pointed out at sea, where Victoria Hand was emerging, on top of some sort of a prehistoric sea monster, having, apparently, concluded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s negotiations with Namor and his kingdom. "Does this mean that the picnic is over?"

Deathlok muttered and contacted Coulson on his own comm.-link. "No," he spoke after some discussion with the director. "The plan is going as scheduled – and when I said 'plan' I mean the 'picnic'-"

"Mike? You are rumbling. But thanks for explaining," the FitzSimmons replied and…scurried off, to somewhere.

Mike twitched.

/ / /

"…That was Mike Petersen, Deathlok," Coulson commented to Roz as the two of them were currently sitting in their position, or rather – at their assigned location (at the head of the table, **cough** ), while keeping an eye on their older children (their youngest was still too young to get into any trouble on his own, fortunately), as the latter socialized with people of their appropriate ages. "Everything went fine – at least on the surface."

"I'm not sure what I feel towards her," Rosalind admitted. "She means well, and she is behaving, and I know that she _is_ a person, but then I remember how a much younger member of her kind wreaked havoc on Sacramento, plus there was the entire Malick fall-out as well-"

"Oh, don't worry about that," 'Ms. Ambroise' walked over to them, (though no one had invited her), looking very smug and as if she belonged here in the first place. "Malick's misadventure was entirely his own fault – unlike Whitehall, for example, he had no idea what he was getting into. Whitehall was as crazy as a dog, but he still knew what he was fighting for and what he could lose – and lost. Now that Carter Peggoty had finally kicked her buckety, things will change even more, and not just for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"…You know," Coulson said evenly, pointedly not reaching for his own weapon, (he was quite confident that it would not work anyhow), "you could speak with more respect for the dead-"

"Why? The IWC knows me as Ereshkigal, sister of Ishtar, the ruler of the land of the dead. All dead come to me in the end, though some do their best to avoid it. That said, Gideon Malick didn't even know what he was doing when he got involved with the InHumans, which only makes his case sadder, even to me."

"And you're here because-?"

"Because Jiaying was my daughter, and Daisy is my granddaughter, and she has recently made me a great-grandmother, remember? True, for Old Ones, this is different than it is for humans, but I _can_ be human on occasion, and so I appreciate what Daisy and Grant had done, a lot."

"Right," Coulson gave 'Ms. Ambroise'/Ereshkigal a hard look. "So what happens now?"

"Everything will go according to _your_ plan, sir," the Old One smiled thinly, with some amusement, (which probably was not very funny to anyone else). "You might be the king of improvisations, but I so don't need this – no one does, actually, so let us part in peace."

"Or what?" Rosalind asked, sounding more challenging than she wanted to.

"Oh, it was a rhetorical statement, nothing more!" the Old One smiled another thin smile and there was a moment of confusion, and-

/ / /

 _Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away…_

"I sense a disturbance in the force," muttered a certain Mad Titan, as he was putting the finishing touches on one of his plans in regards to getting his Infinity Gems back. "I wonder who could that be?"

"I have no idea," his paramour, well known to many fans of MCU, responded, as she emerged from the shadows of his palace stronghold (because he was _that_ formidable). "I am impressed that you know Star Wars' references, however."

"It this self-proclaimed Star Lord character," Thanos grumbled crossly. "I will crush him and the rest of his impromptu Guardians, of course, but his cultural references are something else – I've a feeling that he feel shake the cultural levels of the local humans, and Kree, and Skrulls, and everyone else for more effectively than I ever could, so I am letting him go free – for now. I will crush him, and the rest of the so-called heroes, and everyone else standing in my way, but for now he can continue to deteriorate everyone else's cultural level with his pop-culture references without any interference from me-"

"You're all heart," his (would-be) significant other said wryly as she sassily sat next to him. "Want to see the pictures of my latest great-grandson?"

"Do I?" Thanos immediately stopped ranting and posturing, and promptly joined the Old One at the table. "Hm. He looks like you, sort of-"

"He takes more after his father's side of the family, meaning that he is mostly human _and_ Skrull," Death said mildly, "which isn't too bad. Most hybrid children with our blood being prominent don't tend to work out very well, or have proper lives."

Thanos gave his interlocutrix a very particular look – a look reserved for men whose significant others begin to talk about children without being pushed or pressured by anyone from the outside.

"What?" the Old One said neutrally. "I am just being hypothetical, you know?"

"And I am still interested," the Mad Titan spoke brightly, "you know that?"

"Men!" came the snorting answer, which, however, was not a refusal. "Well, let's go and see where this takes us!"

Thanos just smiled – brightly. He was still mad, of course ('insane' as well as 'extremely angry'), but not as much as he usually was.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"I sense a disturbance in the force," Rocket muttered to Lylla. "…I'm also quite confident that I am going to kill Quill for hooking me up on those stupid catchphrases."

"I am Groot!" commented Groot, before Lylla would.

"And you're also on my list, buddy," Rocket gave his oldest friend a glare. "You being a third wheel is getting old now-"

"I am Groot!"

"I'm going to pawn you to Coulson and the rest of those S.H.I.E.L.D. people if you don't stop-"

"I am Groot!"

"This isn't going to end well," Peter muttered to Gamora, who – for once – did not argue.

/ / /

 _Back on Earth…_

"Where is it, where is it?" Loki muttered, as he looked over the von Strucker family vault. "Humans! And especially those from this planet! They are unbearable at times!"

"Tell me about it," Raina agreed, startling Loki (to Sif's amusement). (Lincoln kept quiet). "Looking for this?" she showed him the Cosmic Cube in question.

"Wha-? How did you-?" Loki sputtered.

"I can see the future – usually," Raina replied, "and in this case? The premonition I had was not of a good sort, not at all. I do not know what you are planning to do with it-"

"Stop Thanos!" Loki snapped. "What else? Can't you just go to your own little plot, and-"

"Excuse me," the Cube in question morphed into a humanoid entity, "but shouldn't _I_ have a say in this? Moreover, where are my manners? My name is Kobik."

"…It's at times like these that I feel that we need Grant and Daisy – they're level-headed enough to deal with a situation like this one," Lincoln told the other InHuman, not unreasonably.

It was then that the Avengers have made their appearances – more particularly, the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. "Hello," the latter spoke to 'Kobik'.

"Hello," Kobik replied, (and their voices did sound similarly to each other's). "Are we related? What do you think?"

"I think that we should talk about it," the Vision responded. "Wanda, shall we?"

"This is going to be fun," the Scarlet Witch muttered, (somewhat sarcastically) to the others, and then she winked out of the vault, alongside Kobik and the Vision, leaving the others flabbergasted.

"You know," Loki muttered to the Avengers, (who had remained behind), "I had a plan-"

"I had a speech," Clint muttered back, ignoring Natasha's glare. "Now what?"

"There's this place that settles griddles, or pancakes, or whatever, not far away from here," Lincoln suggested. "Want to go there?"

/ / /

 _Some time later…_

"…I have no idea where it went wrong," Lincoln was explaining to the senior (well, relatively so) agents, while Raina fluttered innocently her eyelashes…and held his hand for moral support (something that Lincoln genuinely appreciated). "The griddles went down fine, so did the beer, then we let it slip that Malick had a device that, if assembled, could allow humans to travel to another planet, and there they all were. Now, rather, they all are taking over the Hydra castle in Gloucestershire and seeing what they can do with that alien planet portal."

"…This isn't going to end well," Jemma twitched.

"Oh, come on. We are talking Avengers and aliens from Asgard. What can't they do that we can?"

The FitzSimmons exchanged a look and promptly contacted the HQ.

/ / /

 _Meanwhile…_

"This isn't what I meant when I said that I don't want to be a villain," Loki snapped as he used magic to keep an ancient InHuman at bay on an alien planet. "This is also why I preferred to stay the Hell away from the InHumans – they are almost always crazy, and the oldest of them are the craziest! Sif, when this is over-"

"Agreed!" the Asgardian warrior-woman, well, agreed, as she did her best to keep the InHuman at bay…with mixed efforts: unlike Loki, she was not very good with magic, especially under such stress. "You won me over!"

"Really?" Loki asked, just as S.H.I.E.L.D. finally arrived and blasted the InHuman in question with some sort of an energy weapon…okay, it was the same sort that they had used in Sacramento a long time ago – Daisy was the one using the weapon, and she had blasted the InHuman down once more. "This isn't so bad," he finished, brightly taking Sif by an arm.

Daisy twitched. "What did we miss?" she muttered sourly. "I know that you people were elsewhere while we were working in Sacramento, but-"

"Hey, I was in Ross's underwater prison," Hawkeye said brightly, "and we totally-"

"Just ignore him," Widow had elbowed her friend. "This is really like this recent time in Transylvania, when Dracula captured me, but Tony won me back – over a game of cards. Wanda and a couple of her own vampire friends were there too, to add insult to injury. I guess that sometimes luck is just bad."

"Like one of these days that just wouldn't end?" Daisy nodded in understanding. "It happens. How is Fury?"

"Don't start," Widow looked at the younger woman. "What is going on in Atlantis?"

"I have no idea," came the reply. "Compartmentalization is still prominent in the agency. Want to go back to Earth and pretend like this day never happened?"

"Do I?" Loki said brightly, as he has collected a bag – a really big bag – of looted local artifacts. "What?" he added at everyone else's stares.

"Nothing," Hawkeye said flatly. "I thought that you were a god of something, not a crazy kind of a Krampus."

Sif elbowed him.

Hawkeye flew sideways into a nearby dune. "I'm okay!" he said brightly.

"Yeah – you look like Oliver Queen, so you must be okay," came the wry reply.

Hawkeye immediately got onto his feet and proceeded to exclaim, and explain that he _was not_ Oliver Queen, or even his look-a-like, but rather the original model, thank you very much. "Yes, he is fine," Black Widow nodded sagely, if not outright serenely. "Can we go now and pretend that once we were cool, or something?"

"I think I've figured how to turn everyone here into emus," Loki said brightly. "This concept of 'coolness', BTW, is so Thor's thing, so hearing about it from you is just wrong?"

There was a pause and then Black Widow elbowed him. That was the end of that, until later, next week, when Loki did turn everyone into emus, and by 'everyone', he had meant 'everyone in the nine realms and beyond'. Sif set him straight, eventually, but not before Thanos was defeated, (he was less formidable as a flightless bird…slightly), and everyone in the galaxy was safe – for the moment.

End

 _Epilogue 1_

…A certain merc with a mouth (and a lot of other attributes) put down the pen and paper (that he had, **cough** , loaned from the Watcher) and gave a tied-up trio of certain writers a poignant look. (They should not have been there, but hey, it is Deadpool. Many things, not to mention people, human or otherwise, end up out of place or worse when and where he was around.) "And this is how you make a proper ending," he told them. "A proper **happy** ending too, I should add. Get the point?" he pulled out his sword and twirled it around, preparing for a coup-de-gras, when-

"Ahem," spoke a certain titan – a mad one.

"Oh hey, Thanos," Deadpool immediately changed, or rather – switched his attention to the newcomer. "What's the matter? Didn't you like _my_ version of the events?"

"Yes, I did," Thanos grudgingly admitted, "but it doesn't matter. You're not the master of me!"

Deadpool thought this over. "You make it too easy," he told the titan. "Go on and try and make it harder for me, would you?"

Thanos cracked his knuckles. "Okay," he told the much smaller human calmly. "I will."

"Oh, Thanos. You forget – I cannot die, you cannot stop me!" Deadpool shook his head. And then he ran like Hell.

And Thanos chased him, since that was the point.

"Boys," a certain cosmic entity/Old One/deity/etc. muttered to herself. "They never change- yes?" she turned around and faced a certain InHuman. "Agent?"

"I know that we're not really related, but-"

"Stop. You don't want this reality to be destroyed?"

"No. I know that it all was not real-"

"Yes, dear, it is," the 'cosmic entity' sighed. "It's as real as you or I, Thanos or Deadpool. If you want it to be real, to have come to pass, to have a past and a future, it will be. If you do not, well – I am not a cosmic entity for nothing-"

"I want it; _we_ want it," the InHuman agent said firmly. "It's imperfect, flawed and crazy, but it's better than what we all were supposed to have in…the main timeline?" she finished in a more uncertain tone of voice.

"Close enough," the 'cosmic entity' nodded. "That's not the right turn, but you shall keep it. All things come to an end, of course, only the Creator is permanent, but this is one thing that you cannot avoid. We have a deal."

"We have a deal," echoed the agent, as did the other agents – in the shadows – and they shook their hands.

/ / /

 _Epilogue 2_

… The picnic was proceeding in a very lovely, detached and professional manner – as only agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could accomplish. There was drink…mostly beer, because S.H.I.E.L.D. usually drank beer, rather than wine, as far as alcohol went, as a rule. There was food, since this _was_ a barbeque. There was some music and dances, especially since there were children. There even was an elephant, since the FitzSimmons had rescue the animal from a Nautilus club's base a couple of months ago, and it had missed them, (even if it did enjoy hanging around S.H.I.E.L.D. children).

…For their own part the FitzSimmons were of mixed feelings towards this: yes, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they were supposed to be rescuing those in need, but somehow they did not expect one of their rescues to be an elephant, a properly grateful elephant, but an elephant all the same. The kids loved it, true, but this just made the FitzSimmons feel more tingly and uncomfortable in their own skins: yes, they wanted to have children, (well, they would rather get married first, but apparently in S.H.I.E.L.D. it often went the other way around), but they weren't certain that they would make it work as parents; plus-

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Leo muttered to Jemma, as the pair just kept an eye on children playing with the elephant, (although Deathlok was helping with this as well, BTW), "we _were_ going to get married in the first place, remember?"

"I know," Jemma muttered back, "and I like the idea of being a mother, but, yeah, I want you to be the one who is doing the proposing? Are you going to propose?"

"Of course I am," Leo shot back. "I just want it to be perfect-"

"I don't want it to be perfect, I just want _you_ -"

"You don't? You were the more perfectionist one among the two of us back in the Academy-"

"Yes, well, this was different," Jemma flushed. "We're different now from our cadet days, and not just because we're older-"

"Okay," Leo nodded sagely. "So Jemma, will you marry me?"

"Well, yes," Jemma blinked, "but maybe we should continue this in private?"

"Jemma, we're not going to make out in public-"

"Why not…" Jemma blinked and shook her head. "Never mind. Mike, what's up?"

"You two and your circus act," Deathlok commented nonchalantly. "Seriously, just what is going on with you two?"

"Nothing!" the FitzSimmons replied as one. "What is going on out there?" They pointed out at sea, where Victoria Hand was emerging, on top of some sort of a prehistoric sea monster, having, apparently, concluded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s negotiations with Namor and his kingdom. "Does this mean that the picnic is over?"

Deathlok muttered and contacted Coulson on his own comm.-link. "No," he spoke after some discussion with the director. "The plan is going as scheduled – and when I said 'plan' I mean the 'picnic'-"

"Mike? You are rumbling. But thanks for explaining," the FitzSimmons replied and…scurried off, to somewhere.

Mike twitched for some reason, for a very brief moment, he had the oddest feeling of déjà vu, but it passed, and he continued to enjoy himself on a very peaceful day.

 _Epilogue 3_

"Ouch!" said Deadpool. "This really stung!"

"It was supposed to!" Thanos paused. "I mean, it was supposed to do more than just to sting!"

"Yes, well, it's me!" Deadpool yelled back. "What did you expect?" he pointed, not just as Thanos, but at the Watcher as well.

The latter still said nothing.

Moreover, life, in the multiverse, continued as it always did, and have done, and will do.

And death? It is there as well, and it keeps eye on its children too.

The end. (This time for real).

 _PS: Here, for the grace of the Muses (and_ _Apollo_ _Deadpool) goes one of my longest fics ever. I really enjoy AoS, especially the first season, where things made sense, for better or for worse, but I never could figure where to go with them. I began something new and canon-compliant at the_ _start_ _of S3, but because S2 and three were really a mush-up of the same ideas, I began to go nowhere._

…I helped!

… _Shut up, Deadpool. However, yes, the man (the merc) has broken the fourth wall,_ _ **again**_ _, and took over. Hence, the sudden careening in the second half of the fic. It still went nowhere, but it also went from side to side, and helped me depict what I wanted to see in AoS (but just because I did not see it, does not mean that I had not enjoyed the show)._

(…This is why you needed my help. You have no opinions.)

… _Shut up, Deadpool. However, yes, he is a merc not just with a mouth, but with strong opinions, and when_ _he_ _saw the show, he got all huffy (apparently, he once fought S.H.I.E.L.D. all by himself and won), and decided to help my muse, whether we wanted it or not. Moreover, then the Watcher got involved,_ (well, no, not really – he is not that sort of a person – Deadpool), _and a certain cosmic entity, and a mad titan_ (both crazy and really angry – I know, I fought him – Deadpool) _tagged along for the ride…in exchange for a greater role, well, greater roles at the end of the story. Moreover, they did._

…They really did!

… _Shut up, Deadpool. What's that?_

Shut up, Deadpool.

Make me, Thanos!

…

 _Right, before it gets completely out of hand, let me wrap it up: I really enjoyed writing the story, I really tried not to kill anyone, since the last two seasons of S.H.I.E.L.D. got really carried away with killing characters (if they aren't necessary in the wrong run, why bring them forth in the first place?), and yes, I tried to give everyone 'their happy ending' (I'm a fan of OUAT too, not that it matters). I tried to do the entire 'pieces solving a puzzle together' thing as well, and tried to connect everyone on the show, plus a few extras,_ _ **cough**_ _._

…And dinosaurs make everything cooler! We should have gone to Savage Land, but Britain is great too!

… _Shut up, Deadpool. However, yes, you cannot go wrong with a dinosaur or too – just look at 'Runaways',_ _ **cough**_ _. Beyond that, beyond all of that, I –_ _ **we**_ _– sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading this story, and will like reading other stories of mine, (no promises on behalf of Deadpool) in the future._

 _End_


End file.
